I find myself rather taken by a new suitor. No, sadly, it's not a bachelor herd of zebra. But Furry Network has certainly caught my eye. It's definitely still in beta, with some missing features. But each week it seems to have new content. Not just art or stories, but the site itself is constantly evolving. It's listening to the community and actively trying to build itself in ways the community wants to see. FA is still a good old site and I'll continue posting here. But FN is shiny and new and has an exciting potential.

FA has experienced frequent outages, so it was time to talk about the other place you can find me. Recently, FN entered and open Beta. No longer do you need a key to join. That means following me there has never been easier.

I've had an FN account for some time now. Rather quietly I started only posting my fursuiting pictures there. It's easier to collect and differentiate between art and photo there. Art is still being posted to both sites, but if you want to see fursuit pictures, that's where you'll need to go to see them.

I actually have two characters there. Sable Gryphon, which is me. I'm not changing. I'm not conflicted. I am a proud Gryphon.

https://beta.furrynetwork.com/sable_gryphon/

And Sabsedet Hemty. A new character based on a premade partial that I bought from   lemonbrat at FWA 2016. He's adorable and gay and adoragay. He's not me. But that means that I can work on performance art and interact with people in different ways. He's so cute!

https://beta.furrynetwork.com/sabsedet

I'm not abandoning FA. I'm not leaving the fandom forever. But if you want to reach out to me outside of FA or you want to see my fursuiting pictures, you now know where to find me.

I have returned from Furry Weekend Atlanta 2016. I had to stop and realize that I’ve been going for 5 years now. Amazing how time flies.

FWA holds a special place for me. It’s shortly after Fiesta. I think Fiesta is a better con, but I work at TFF, so I deliberately go to FWA not to be staff. I need to unwind after Fiesta, I need to remember what it’s like to be an attendee at a con, and I need a vacation after the chaos of my own convention. Plus they already have a Sable on staff.

Wednesday:   StarGazer79 and   Erro joined my on the journey. Erro was spending time working on the Hyena sanctuary in Texas after Fiesta, so he stopped by my place on Tuesday evening. After picking up Gazer, we left bright and early for the long drive. Driving is my preferred method, as it gives me unlimited transport capacity both to and from as well as simplifying the last leg of the trip. It’s not much cheaper, since parking fees in downtown Atlanta are brutal, but it’s less stressful. A major accident outside of Birmingham delayed us for two hours, so we didn’t get in until late.

Thursday: I didn’t have my fursuit head, as I had dropped that off with   Ino89777 during Fiesta for minor adjustments. I was hoping that it would be available on this day so I could do some suiting, so I just wore civilian attire. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pick the head up until late that day, so I didn’t manage to suit.

First order of business was food. Pretty much all my breakfast and lunch meals would be taken in the mall food court, so nothing special there. This Thursday at the con was much more sedate than 2015, so I didn’t run into as many people I knew during this time. I did meet up with   HungRider when he arrived.

Around 3pm I was one of the first group to pick up badges. They were clearly having problems, but I managed to get through it. God Level swag was a chargeable lamp in the shape of a book. It’s pretty awesome, though I’m not sure when I’ll use it. Shirt looks pretty good and I bought a pair of flip-flops for use while suiting. They have the FWA mascots on the top of them.

For dinner, Gazer and I hit Gibney’s Pub, an Irish place in easy walking distance with amazing Shepard’s Pie. That evening I picked up the head from Ino. It was a little loose after adjustments, which seemed perfect at the time, but I found out after sweating it starts to slide around and I can’t speak anymore. I’ll have to adjust it further back the other way. At least it doesn’t cause the headaches I was getting anymore.

Friday: The con was becoming more active. First order of business was food and hitting the Dealer’s Den when it first opened. I didn’t see much I really wanted during this trip. Spoiler alert, I missed something.

After that, it was time to fursuit for the first time. I got all fuzzy for a couple hours. It was a lot of fun. I feel warm and fuzzy when people compliment the suit. More-so than usual that is. I also stopped by the Furshoot room and got a bunch of pictures taken. They look pretty good and will be posted on my Furry Network account with the rest of my fursuiting pictures. https://beta.furrynetwork.com/sable_gryphon/

Afterward I got into Steampunk attire. This time with a wonderful patterned gold waistcoat, brown vest, and poofy shirt. After a bit of wandering, I met up with   Jamaris and   Richardman (AKA Engorgulox) while waiting for the God Level Dinner to depart. Was rather annoyed that my name didn’t end up on the list, so it took them a while to verify me. But I was able to get on the bus, which is all that mattered. Jammie, Engorgulox, Gazer, and I were probably a bit loud, but it was a funny time at the meal. It was Fogo de Chao, as always, which is awesome. So much good food. I may have eaten too much, but I regret nothing.

We rolled back to the hotel and I finally was able to hang out with   WillowWhiteFox . She had fallen through the cracks for dinner, so I took her over to Gibney’s. It was nice to sit and chat with her. I was entirely full, but had a beer.

The rest of the evening was simply having fun chatting with people and wandering about.

Saturday: Once more morning found me finding food and getting fluffy. This was the day of the vaunted Fursuit Mingle event that would replace the parade. But at 11am was also the Military Furs meet and greet. So I got into suit in time for that panel, which was fun. Then I went to line up for the photo shoot. This was hot and confusing and grueling for an inexperienced suiter. Line up was supposed to be from 11:30 to Noon, but it went longer than that. Of course, what that really meant is that because I showed up at 11:30, I was in suit far longer waiting for the picture. Then they wanted more than a picture, so they wanted video and we had to dance around for that. I was so exhausted and overheated by the time the actual mingle happened that I went directly to the headless lounge to cool off, then up to my room to desuit. Anyone know how the mingle went from the PoV of an onlooker?

Dressed as a sheriff then, I swung by the social, which was bizarrely at the same time as the mingle. I grabbed a few sugar bits for energy and picked up the special glass. Then it was off to the mini X-Wing Tournament.

I made a bit of a mistake in the tournament. I took a good list. It’s not bragging to say that I’m a good player in that community and I was hoping to win the tournament to defend my title. So I took a list I’ve been refining for some time:

The Last Winter Night
Omega Leader + Juke + Comm Relay
Wampa
4x Black Squadron Pilot + Crack Shot

This is an utterly brutal TIE Fighter swarm. There were three other players in the Tournament. Star Gazer,   kamatz and   JinchuIndigo AKA Roadkill. It was decided we’d do 2 rounds. My first opponent was Roadkill, running Airen Cracken, Corran Horn, and two Z-95s. I crushed him without losing a tie fighter. My next opponent was Star Gazer running Jake Ferrell, Chopper, and Zeb. I crushed him as well. I didn’t lose a TIE Fighter the entire tournament.

I had provided a bit of extra prize support. Everyone got an alternate art Dagger Squadron pilot. Star Gazer got a challenge coin, Kamatz got a Darth Vader alt art, and Roadkill walked away with the charity Biggles card. I won a $30 gift card to the con store, which I spent on a bathrobe and a canteen.

I took the X-Wing stuff back up to the room. Dinner was with Jammy and Engorgulox at Big Pie In The Sky, a pizza place that was good, but had no business being so far from the hotel. We went there because it had been featured in Man vs Food, and the pizza slices are larger in two dimension than a baby.

Upon return I attended the Pet and Pony Play panel. The only real panel I went to during the con. It acted as a Petplay 101 panel, talking about the lifestyle, what it is, how to get into it, various resources, and so on. It was well done, if a bit scattered. I enjoyed it. It’s a kink that I’ve always enjoyed the idea of, but never participated it. The concept of Hippogryphplay still amuses me to no end.

Sunday: The final day of the con, I wasn’t feeling great. Not ill, just exhausted and weary. I planned on fursuiting, so I wore T-Shirt and shorts, but that never materialized. I hit the Dealer’s Den when it opened. Said hi to some of my dealer friends, such as   AnimeCat and   Nut-Case . But then I saw something that rather caught my eye.

  LemonBrat had a partial for sale of an utterly adorable rainbow jackal. Cute face, with amazingly soft rainbow fur, it was incredible. I spent three hours talking myself out of buying the partial. So I bought the partial. Only time I’ve ever impulse bought a fursuit. :>

I spent much of the day just hanging out with friends.   Tristwolf and   Piston are always a pleasure to chat with, as were Roadkill and   Morhlis (AKA Dizzi). Plenty of others.

By Sunday night, it was time for our FWA tradition. We went out to Hsu’s, the best Chinese place in Atlanta. Up scale, but they love us furries. Star Gazer, Jammy, Engorgulox, Ed, @@KyoFoxtrot, Darth Bear, and a bunch of others went. I had the Pork Medallions for the first time, which were excellent.

Monday: The three of us drove back Monday, after we finally found Erro who had overslept. Much smoother going on the way home and the time zone change was in our favor. Ended the evening by getting Babe’s Chicken in Dallas with Teiran and Buck.

All in all, it was an excellent con. A few hiccups, but I’m sensitive to them as staff at another con. We look forward to next year, where the theme will be Game On.

Furry Fiesta 2016 has now been completed. For the fourth year in a row, I was Head of Security. I’ve now been in Security half of Fiesta’s history. I am the only Head of Security that has held office for more than one consecutive year.

First, I want to thank my Security staff.

My three Captains (shift leads):   Jerynn   Pestilynce   Talv
My eight Lieutenants:   vosrood   tarpaw   TekrinPegasus Lakota Wolf   BerryPaws   Mstr.litamacwolf   Kodicub and Featherprop

As with previous years, my Fiesta begins on Wednesday and doesn’t end until Monday.

Wednesday: In 2014, our first year in the Intercontinental, our Auxiliary parking was a disaster. We just assumed that people would know how to park. This forced us to put staff out there and it was an utter mess. The following year we rented parking barriers and staged vehicles, which resolved that issues. This year we bought our own barriers. Thus my Wednesday started out by setting up the barriers in the parking lot. In the rain and mud.

After parking deployment, I went in to help out inside. I helped a little with organization and patrolling the hotel to get a feel for it. That evening we had our final, pre-con staff meeting. I covered our thankfully unused emergency plans. Then it was time to roost.

Wednesday Step Count: 9054 Steps. 4.53 miles.

Thursday: This morning started with me packing for my stay in the hotel. Even though I live nearby, my capacity as Head of Security requires me to be on-site. Once ready, I grabbed my stuff and headed to the hotel that morning. I grabbed two assistants and we went off site to pickup the plinko board. If you saw that massive plinko board next to the Volunteer tables, that’s the one I’m talking about. It raised a lot for charity and was very successful.

Security leadership then met with the hotel security leadership for a short meeting to discuss anticipated problems and to ensure we had a good working relationship. Hotel security is awesome and I thank them for all their hard work. I was then pulled into another meeting with senior con staff and hotel management to do so on a larger scale.

I then took a bit of personal time to check into my room. Then it was back down to the floor. Everything was being moved into various areas. I assisted where I could. My security staff was starting to show up, so I briefed them on what to expect and how to handle situations. I helped organize the line building up outside of Registration and generally helped out the con as needed.

Thursday Step Count: 19427 Steps. 9.67 miles.

Friday: This was the first official day of the convention. As such, I was in my Official Fiesta Uniform, consisting of my steampunk sheriff outfit. I really do look imposing with the long, billowing coat and stern, unreadable expression. I spent the morning making sure my staff was familiar with their duties, as well as walking the con to ensure things were running smoothly.

Opening Ceremonies was well attended as usual. After a rocky start with the videos, lots of fluffy things watched Path officially open the con, though Dealer’s Den had already been open an hour. I make it part of my duty to be at opening ceremonies, though I’m on the radio ready to leave if necessary.

After that, I finally managed to get something from the food trucks. A very tasty chicken sandwich. The trucks were once again a huge success. Sadly, one of the three trucks was unable to make it. It was, of course, the one schedule to arrive all three days, so we only had 2 trucks each day.

The rest of Friday is a blur. I walked the con, setting right what once went wrong. I assisted where I could. Dealt with dozens of little issues. By the time I finally roosted, I was exhausted.

Friday Step Count: 13242 Steps. 6.47 miles.

Saturday: This is the biggest day of the con for me. This is the day with the highest level of activity. I had learned last year that we burn through an incredible amount of ribbon for peace bonding, so I had purchased 600’ of ribbon. To differentiate from the previous year, I went with purple ribbon. Unfortunately, the ribbon was a little too dark, running into problems seeing it against dark weapons. I’ll use a lighter color next year, but at least this year we didn’t run out.

I also kept a small supply of pocket schedules on me to hand out when asked about panel times or locations. I wasn’t asked as many times this year, so I suspect more people are using the sched.org schedule we have posted, which is great.

Shortly after going on shift, it was time to head to the GoH lunch. This was a private showing of Zootopia with 150 Super Sponsors and VIPs. Only a few seats were empty. This is my one indulgence each year. I was ostensibly there to keep order and be on site if something happens, but it’s mostly my one break all con. Zootopia is an amazing movie and easily my favorite movie this year so far. Then it was back to the con.

The biggest event for me on Saturday is the Fursuit Parade. I didn’t have to change the route at the last minute this year. I spent this time directing staff on where to go, as well as forming the line and making sure it was clear. We had a lot of fursuiters this year. 642 was the final count.

Saturday evening was as crazy as expected. Alcohol and a desperation to squeeze ever bit of pleasure out of a con are a poor mix. I stayed up till Midnight dealing with various problems and emergencies. Even after I roosted, it was difficult to sleep as I was so keyed up from the day and its events.

Saturday Step Count: 17469 Steps. 8.56 miles.

Sunday: This day started too early. It was Daylight Savings Time, so I lost an hour of sleep. Had to be up bright and early for a meeting and it takes some time on Sunday to get dressed. After that meeting with other similarly tired and broken staff, I hobbled around the con for a little while. Around 1pm I managed to get breakfast at one of the food trucks. The BBQ truck was pretty good, but a bit spicy for my sensitive pallet.

I briefly stopped by the So You Want To Be Staff panel and gave a short speech on the rewards of being staff. Hopefully it was well received, but I was unable to stick around to find out. Closing ceremonies was far too soon. I attended that, where Derek from our charity showed this awesome Big Guide To Furry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsnca8jU7pw

Afterward, I went to the Scritch and Bitch. I was in and out of the room, dealing with issues. At one point I literally ran out of squawk while responding to an attendee. I had to run and get water to continue. Then it was time to assist with load out. When I finally couldn’t do anymore, I spent a bit of time hanging out with folks far too briefly. Finally actually got to meet and chat with   WillowWhiteFox .

Had a bit of an emotional crash Sunday night. The overwhelming events of the weekend, coupled with physical and mental exhaustion can be trying for me. Nothing too serious, but I was a bit maudlin that night, feeling incapable and that I had missed the event. Luckily, sleep mostly cleared this and I was at least emotionally recovered the next day.

Sunday Step Count: 12633 Steps. 6.16 miles.

The morning was all about packing. I packed up my room after getting up early. Had to check out of the hotel room and be out to assist with tear down of the parking lot by 9:30. Loaded everything up, and then took everything to the storage unit. I wasn’t really capable of moving things or picking things up, so I left after we put the barriers into the storage unit.

After that, I went back to the hotel, officially done for the year as staff. I hung out with the few remaining people I knew at the hotel. Grabbed breakfast with Willow Fox at Original Pancake House. Then I went home. Unpacked a bit. Then, feeling lonely, I went and saw Zootopia again for the fifth time. That movie makes me feel young again.

Monday Step Count: 4805 Steps. 2.39 miles.

I ran into far too many friends I could hang out with far too briefly. Sometimes I feel like I miss the con being Head of Security. I don’t know how many years I have left in me as Head of Security. At least one, and I don’t know if this is just the after con exhaustion talking, but I may need to start looking for another section.

Last weekend was Furry Weekend Atlanta 2015. I attended again this year, making it my 4th year at this con. This was the first year in a new hotel, which is good but it can be a bit rocky.

I go to FWA specifically to attend a con where I am not staff. Fiesta takes a lot out of me and I need a con I can go to and just have fun.

Once more,   StarGazer79 and I drove out on the Wednesday before the con. It's about a 12 hour drive with an unhelpful timezone change, but it's not too bad. Parking is always an issue in Atlanta and always adds serious expense to this trip, but my truck allows me to bring costumes and lots of stuff, as well as not having to worry about how to get stuff home if I purchase anything.

Thursday I went incognito. No steampunk attire this day. I discovered that my phone wasn't getting text messages, a problem that would persist all weekend. I was able to meet up with   Piston and   Tristwolf . These two are a lot of fun and I'm glad to name them friends. I spent some time in the Board Game Room, meeting up with   Kamatz ,   DekoPuma and   ArcTheCollie .

After lunch I finally broke out the fursuit. This was my first time fursuiting and the debut con for my fursuit. I had received the fursuit at Furry Fiesta 2015, but as I was a bit busy, I hadn't had a chance to wear it. The previous weekend I had attempted to wear the fursuit at Havencon, but I broke the zipper. I wandered around for a couple hours and blew the minds of fursuiters showing off the drinking talon. The fursuit was made by   Ino89777 (Telephone) who is an incredible fluffsmith. The suit is awesome and I had a lot of fun. I can already feel the desire swelling within me to get another suit. I was able to talk with her briefly this con, but both of us were so busy that we didn't really get to chat long. Her car and trailer were stolen during the con.

Thursday afternoon I went to Registration. Being God Level, I was able to skip the line and immediately pick up my stuff. The God level gift was a tea set including kettle, strainer, and two mugs. I also picked up the matching Sake set. I noticed an issue almost immediately that the schedule said that the God dinner was Friday, but the tickets said Saturday. I brought it up with staff. They did their best to correct the issue and get the word out, but I know several people missed the dinner because of this. That evening was spent hanging out with friends and having fun. Stargazer and I hit the Irish pub for dinner. After returning from that, I got in suit once more. It may have been a bad idea to eat Shepard's Pie before suiting, but that's the kind of madman I am. Two more hours of wandering around and being bird. Every bit as fun, but I was more tired and wasn't as expressive and animate. I need to work on performance art more. Still, a total of 4 hours in suit this day was plenty.

Friday I wore the red Steampunk weapon merchant outfit. Friday was quite the busy day. Breakfast in the God lounge, meeting up with RocRolDis and Jamaris . Prowling the Dealer's Den where I got to hang out with AnimeCat and Nut-Case far too briefly. I ended up picking up 3D paper art of a Gryphon as well as the Snowmew from Bad Dragon. I had intended to fursuit during the afternoon, but I ended up hitting lunch late, going to Gyro Madness (or whatever they are called this week). By the time I got back, I was worried I might miss the God dinner if I suited. This led to lots of hanging out and having fun, barely seeing   StarAllon ,   TheDK and   CubBruin .

The God dinner was amazing as always. Once again it was at Fogo De Chao, an excellent Brazilian steakhouse. This is always a lot of fun, with wacky conversation and being constantly plied with finely crafted meats. This year they also allowed us to get a dessert, so I finally got to try flan. It was amazing. I had to engage the auxiliary dessert stomach to manage it, but it was so worth it. By the time we returned, I was too full of meat to fursuit. I shall plan better next year.

Saturday I wore my Sheriff outfit. Once more, breakfast was in the God lounge It's such a useful place. Today was the day scheduled for the X-Wing tournament as well as just being a far too busy day. I spent the first part of the day flitting between friends and places, trying to hang out with too many people. I finally met up with @@HungRider, who I had been hoping to see. By the afternoon, I was in the game room for the X-Wing tournament. I took the following list:

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31 39
Veteran Instincts 1
Tactician 2
Inertial Dampeners 1
Seismic Charges 2
Seismic Charges 2
Engine Upgrade 4
Andrasta 0

IG-88B — Aggressor 36
Veteran Instincts 1
Advanced Sensors 3
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Autothrusters 2

The tournament started 90 minutes late because most of the players had signed up and never played before. Lists had to be created and rules taught. This was generally fine, but would be have been nice to build into the timeline. We only played one round, before postponing the rest of the tournament to the next day.   Kamatz was running the tournament and it was his first time. Lessons were learned and a lot of fun was had, which is what was important.

I had just enough time to get to the room and get into fursuit once more. This let me get downstairs with enough time to wander around a bit before attending the Skypro furshoot. Yay pictures. Afterwards, I wandered the Artist Alley and generally harassed the artists. I was hitting them with wings and pushing innocuous things off their desk. One intrepid artist attempted to sell me something in suit by pointing to his price list, so I took it briefly. I was a lovable jerk. :>

As I hadn't had dinner, I finally got out of suit and we went to High Velocity, the hotel restaurant. I was pretty exhausted, so I wasn't the greatest of company, but I was able to talk at some length about how to find a fursona and what one should look for. It was a good evening.

Sunday I broke out an old outfit, my British Explorer. This is always a fun outfit, but I haven't worn it in a couple years. It was quite loose on me. After breakfast, I went to the X-Wing tournament once more. I won my games this day as well, leaving me the champion. I ended up pushing all my prizes down a level, so that others got things I already had. For the second tournament in a row, I couldn't bring myself to take any of the prizes.

I would spend the rest of the day hanging out with friends and having fun. I didn't suit this day due to exhaustion. I was plumb tuckered out. I had offered to help Skypro transport goods, but my phone being finicky with texts and tweets meant I wasn't able to. I still feel terrible that I let her down.

We drove home Monday. Once more a long drive, but not too odious. Overall it was a good trip and a fun time. I'm glad I went and I plan to return.

Once more I was Head of Security. This was my third year in that role, making me the longest continuously running Head of Security of Fiesta by a factor of three.

For Executive Staff, the convention usually starts far sooner than people realize. Lots of last minute things have to be handled.

Wednesday: My con officially began on this day. I started this by picking up all the shirts found in the Sponsor+ bags or sold at the con. I have a large pickup, so I was able to transport the huge number of shirts to the con. The shirts this year looked amazing. We started by getting access to certain rooms by lunch time. All the shirts had to be taken up to our staging area and we began stuffing all the bags. We started with the Super Sponsor bags because they were the most complicated. Each bag had to have a bunch of stuff in it, from the shirt to two different types of soap to a leather bookmark. It takes a lot of work to prepare all the thousands of bags for the convention. During this time, the Executive Staff had a meeting with key Hotel Staff to talk about final preparations and to gain some familiarity. We also had the final staff meeting to talk about our plans and try to minimize any last minute issues. I left the hotel around 11pm, with many bag still needing to be stuffed.

Thursday: This day I showed up in stealth mode. I was wearing a red, customized polo shirt to indicate I was Head of Security, along with cargo pants. Many attendees used to seeing me in more notable attire didn't recognize me immediately. I'm the only person at the con who can wear a bright red shirt in order to be less obvious. While others were finishing bag stuffing, I met several Security fluffs bright and early to start deploying the barricades for traffic in the auxiliary lot. These barriers had to be assembled and staged. This was my first attempt at parking control and while it worked alright, I learned a lot and think I can do better next time. Still, this meant that no one got parked in over the weekend, though there were complications.

After parking deployment, I took some personal time to run home and pack for the weekend and checked into my room. By mid afternoon we were handling the line for Registration. I spent much of the afternoon helping on various small things and frantically attempting to get the convention space prepared for the evening. I was able to see a lot of friends far, far too briefly this day. I had the first of many, many meals at the hotel restaurant that evening. By the end of the day, I had taken over 18000 steps and covered 14.5km.

Friday: Putting on my now iconic Sheriff's attire, I was on duty bright and early. I would spend much of the time handling small issues to ensure they did not become larger issues. I gave a safety briefing to the dealers in their Den. Soon it was time for Opening Ceremonies. Everyone seemed to have a good time at this event. I managed to pick up my fursuit made by the awesome   SkyproFursuits , but I would be too busy to wear it during this con.

I did attempt to try the food trucks, but they ran out of food before I could reach them. All of my meals therefor would be at the restaurant in the hotel. After this, I began patrolling in earnest. I tried to solve a number of issues in a calm, friendly matter.

As an aside, my philosophy when it comes to Security is simple. We are not police and have no actual formal power. Our power must therefor be based on Charisma. We want everyone to have a safe and fun time. This means not being authoritarian when people are causing trouble. They may not know better or may just need to be moderated. People respond well to being asked or gently encouraged to moderate their actions. The two Lieutenants I put on the task took quite a while to find and take care of them all.

As the midnight drew near, I finally left security matters in the capable paws of my security team and retired to my roost. I had walked another 14065 steps, traveling over 11km.

Saturday: Wearing a red dragon vest instead of the teal of the day before, I once more started the day with a patrol and a quick meal in the restaurant. The breakfast buffet is a little expensive at $15, but this includes tax and tip, so it's manageable. For this, one gets quite a good spread, from various muffins to cereal, smoked salmon to croissants, and the usual staples of eggs, thick bacon and sausage, and more. A drink is also included in the price. It's a good experience.

I then had to run off site as we had run out of peace bonding ribbon. This would shortly become quite important as more costumes were on display and more individuals brought their toys out. We did have one ninja cosplayer come for peace bonding that had FORTY TWO different toy weapons.

I found it useful to carry around multiple pocket schedules, as I would frequently be asked when or where events were. When lunch came around, it was time for me to attend the GoH lunch. This year it was held at Maggianos, so we bused all the Super Sponsors out to that fine Italian restaurant. It appeared to be a big hit. The first course was an artichoke dip dish and fried mozzarella, followed by three courses including Fettuccine Alfredo, Lasagna, and Balsamic Chicken. Finally, desert was comprised of Tiramisu and Apple Pie.

I returned to the hotel to find a brewing disaster. The parade route had been changed due to a scheduling error and the planned ending room being untenable due to how the chairs and tables were setup. We took a look at the schedule and the area and I made the call to change the route once more. I pissed off several people, but it seemed the only option at the time. This was done 15 minutes before the start of the parade, with me having to steal a number of staff to handle the route. So, if you had any problems with the route, that is my fault.

I did have a moment to visit the Charity Auction just in time to see our big ticket item go.   LunoVulpes had donated a partial fursuit to the auction. This orange Jackalope sold for an incredible $777. It looked amazing and Luno can be proud of himself.

By late evening I had walked another 15037 steps, covering 11.9km.

Sunday: Wearing my silver vest, I was once more ready to go early. I walked into an incident in progress and helped deal with this security issue immediately, before getting breakfast a bit late. It proved to be a busy day.

For many this was their last day of Fiesta. It had started to rain this morning and weather predictions were becoming dire. My Lieutenant   Usb and I moved the traffic barricades to the pickup spot in the auxiliary lot. This was a lot of work and we were soaked by the end of it, but the temperature was dropping this day, so it was the best time we had.

I continued patrol as my security staff began departing to beat the weather. An ice storm had been forecast for slightly after midnight. Closing ceremonies was much quieter due to the rapid departure of many of our guests, but this hurt our Charity as fewer people were there to donate. I then attended the Scritch and Bitch after closing ceremonies. I was heartened by the fact that the only comment regarding security was a compliment. During the middle of this, I had to briefly depart to oversee another incident, finding it being expertly handled by my staff.

By the end of the evening I was in pain, having walked another 16300 steps and covering 13km. I was sad I only got to see my friends in passing. I didn't even had time to wear my fursuit. I need to trust my staff a bit more and take more time for me, but there always seems to be an emergency brewing I must deal with.

Monday, the hotel was eerily quiet. I dressed once more incognito. I helped ensure most of our rooms were already cleared out. It was clear that taxis and shuttles were not running. Having a truck and ice driving experience, I took   hali and the red panda drummer whose name I forget to the airport. On the way back I dropped my own stuff off at my apartment. I then returned to the hotel and helped clean up the main ballroom.

Finally, I had time to sit and hang out with the few friends still remaining at the hotel. I got to sit and chat with   chipfox   DaDingo   laches and   tape . I also had a wonderful time hanging out with Alexander James Adams, the musician. He's an interesting individual whom I got to talk about all sorts of stuff with. When it became clear that the super shuttle for Chip/AJ/Growl/Laches wasn't going to appear, I also drove that group to the airport. Yay huge truck capable of hauling five people plus luggage.

Returning to the hotel, I hung out a bit before a third group,   Rikoshi and   yippee were stranded and needed a ride. We were joking because last year, Yippee also needed a ride to the airport which I provided. Still, they were able to get to their flight safely. Returning from this, I met a group of people at the Flying Saucer to wind down the final bit of the weekend.

I hope everyone had a good con, even with the weather, and I'm sorry I didn't have time to hang out with many of you for more than in passing.

So, I recently returned from attending FWA2014. This was their second and last year in the Westin. It was a good con and I had a lot of fun.

This year, we left earlier.  StarGazer79 and I drove out on Wednesday. This consumed the entire day and we got in late that night (blast timezone change). Took all the stuff up to the room and rested.

Thursday, I wore T-Shirt and shorts, saving the outfits for the later days. We wandered around a bit and ran into a number of people who were arriving. Played a bit of X-Wing when the game room opened, then hit registration. I was God level this year, so I could skip the line. I do like the sketchbook gift. The poster is cool, though mine would be crushed sometime during the weekend without my knowledge. Given its location and the nature of the damage, I think the cleaning staff stepped on it. Ah well.

Thursday night we hit the mall for noms. Afterwards, played a bit of Cards Against Humanity and generally enjoyed hanging out with people. This day, I got to see  AnimeCat,  RocRolDis, and  Jamaris. I would also hang out or see a host of South Carolina furs who I missed, such as  TheDK and  CubBruin both of whom now had suits.  HungRider had his new suit and it was so nice to hang out with him again.  Funshade was there again and spent much of his time in the game room and I ran into  Nut-Case briefly, though I would see her mostly in the Dealer's Den. It was also nice hanging out with both  Sable-Crimsonpawwz and  sabledrakon during the con. Go Team Sable!

Friday morning continued my tradition of foraging in the God Level Suite for breakfast. I dressed in my red Steampunk outfit (red coat, silver vest, red pants, black hat with red goggles, new black and brown boots). Almost the entire day was spent in the game room. It was nice to see Jason Morris again. Played a bunch of games, such as X-Wing (sorry for crushing you Kamatz!) and Cards Against Humanity. I hit the Den several times, but didn't buy much. I spent most of my Den time chatting with vendors I knew. Lunch was the mall food court again. Dinner was at the wonderful Mediterranean restaurant Truva with Gazer, Jammy, and RRD. Hummus, Lamb Shish Kebab, Belly Dancers, and good company made for a wonderful evening.

Notable CAH hands:

'My new favorite porn star is Joey ________ McGee' Me: 'AIDS'
'I often call in sick for work when I have a bad case of ________' 'Authentic Mexican Cuisine'

Saturday I wore the Sheriff outfit. The morning was a bit slower, but it was nice. Managed to catch the end of the Military Furs Meet-up that morning. Grabbed a doughnut and swapped military stories. Following that, I wandered around, hanging out with friends and having fun. Didn't really have lunch as I was preparing for an early dinner. Went to the Charity Auction briefly, but nothing interesting caught my eye. Left there after 20 minutes to head downstairs for the social. Grabbed a second of the nice red dixie cups and a host of dessert snacks. I was seriously disappointed in the drink selection being coffee or fruit punch. I finally said screw it and filled my cup with milk intended for the coffee. It was nice.

I left there, taking the cup up to the room, before heading downstairs to wait for the bus to the God Level Dinner. Spent the ride chatting with Jason Morris about Ironclaw and other RPGs before reaching Fogo De Chao. Here, we had all the meat. All of it. It was so wonderful. I love that place so much. I rolled back to the hotel after a nice meal. We played a game of Snow Tails, a game about dogsled racing. It was epic. We definitely need to check out the 2nd edition. Afterwards, the Cards Against Humanity tournament was starting. I decided to join. I was the second person at my table to win in the first round, sending me to the finals. Here, the guy to my left won three hands quite quickly. The guy to my right asked me to move over into the vacant seat to give him room, so I did. I then won three hands quickly, meaning I was 2nd in the tournament. I won a medal and a copy of the game 'Saga'. Notable hands:

'The FBI has recently declared that _______ is a weapon of mass destruction.' 'A Sassy Black Woman'
'There are whispered rumors that the Vatican has a secret room dedicated to ________' 'Actually Taking Candy From a Baby'

Sunday was our last real day at the con. I wore the explorer outfit. People had started leaving Saturday evening and this accelerated throughout Sunday. I played a few more games this day. I also managed to hit the Adult Charity Auction. Managed to get a small Phoenix toy from Exotic Erotics, which was nice, and the money went to charity.

Finally ran into  Lizcut in the Dealer's Den late Friday. She had been in a longboarding accident a few months ago and messed up her knee, but was hopeful she would be walking again in a month or so. Otherwise, she seemed to be doing well. Wish I could have hung out with her more.

I was stunned how early the game room closed on Sunday. I wandered around until a massive group got together to his Hsu's, the local upscale Chinese restaurant. It was wonderful and we swapped tabletop rpg stories most of the meal. Afterwards, we went by the hotel for next year.

I spent some time hanging out with Sable (the chimera) before she was called upon to perform her staffly duties. I then found AnimeCat and her husband, StarGazer, and a couple others. They had a new game they wanted to play. 'Aye Dark Overlord' is a game where one person is the overlord and everyone else are the minions, trying to explain how their mission failed. The goal is to explain why the failure isn't your fault. I was immediately designated the Overlord. It was an epic game and we all had a lot of fun.

Monday we left early for our drive home. It was a great con. They basically solved the elevator issue from the previous year. Outside of a few issues, I was super happy I went and I hope to return next year.

Thus ends Furry Fiesta 2014. I am now, officially, the longest continuous Head of Security for this convention at two years. This was a much rougher year for me than last year. 2013 was certainly much more stressful and I only had effectively 2 security staff. This year I started with 7 security staff, but the space was bigger, much harder to control, and generally rougher. Last year I ended every day physically exhausted. This year I ended every day mentally and emotionally exhausted and physically beaten down.

There are obviously security incidents that won't be spoken of here, but I will share vague details as appropriate.

Note: This convention is a blur for me. I was working 14+ hour days from Wednesday through Sunday, much of which was mentally taxing, so its a bit of a blur. If I forget to mention you here, I am extremely sorry, it has simply slipped my mind.

Wednesday was the beginning of my convention. It started bright and early as I retrieved the con shirts from the printers and took them to the hotel. They took up EIGHT large boxes. I would snag McDonalds for breakfast before getting to the hotel. I took them up to our operations room, along with helping bring up various other critical supplies. After this, I began walking the soon to be convention space and generally helping out. As my security staff started arriving, I began briefing them with what I expected, walking the convention space with them, and generally getting better. I attended the final meeting with the senior hotel staff, who were all wonderful people and trying to make sure that our event went as well as possible.

After this meeting was the final staff meeting for our convention staff, followed by bag stuffing. I wasn't able to help out much with the bags, as I was generally handling other issues and prepping security. During this time, we had pizza brought in to feed the crew. I was also able to get the wonderful badge made by  Noxychu, a newly furry artist seduced from the WoW community.

Thursday started early as well. I was at the con hotel in the morning to begin prepping everything, handling last minute issues, and generally making sure that the initial interactions between the hotel and our attendees went well. We got the first trouble as it turned out that some guests had been given single rooms instead of doubles due to demand, which was unfortunate but there wasn't much that could be done.

I was able to meet up with  Piston and  Tristwolf as they arrived quite early. I stole a few minutes to speak with them as most of my work had yet to begin. I was unable to hang out with them as much as I would like, a running theme for me this weekend.

More of my security staff arrived, and I kept briefing them and providing guidance for the weekend ahead. I stole one of the staff available sandwiches for lunch. Another theme was only getting two meals a day. I just didn't have time for three.

Our con suite opened in the basement. This used to be an old nightclub called Kempi's, in the 80s and early 90s before being shut down for ADA reasons. Our only programming there was the suite because it's an awesome space, but stairs challenged individuals could not get to it normally. Security can provide an escort through private hotel areas to this area, but unfortunately most of our attendees didn't know this.

I also saw some other awesome people this day.  ArcNova came in and it was wonderful to see him far too briefly during the con.  Rahata was as cool as ever and it seemed like he had a great time.  Stargazer79 was staff this year, in the tabletop gaming room. We sentenced him to playing games all con long. I stole some time to hang out with him occasionally. As stressed as he was prior to the convention, I think he had a lot of fun.

Friday began my first official day of security, though I had already been working two long days. I wore my now traditional sheriff's outfit. I had bought some really nice 9 button boots over the previous year, making the outfit look even better. Learning from my vest choice last year, I chose much brighter and distinct colors for my vest. A red/black dragon vest the first day, a turquoise paisley on Saturday, then a silver paisley on the last day. This helped clue people in that I was indeed changing clothes day by day even if it looked very similar. The only things that didn't change day to day were the hat, the coat, and the boots.

Officially for shift leads,  Daggar was pulling the 6am-2pm shift, I was pulling the 2pm-10pm shift and  Jerynn was pulling the 10pm-6am shift, with four lieutenants pulling 8 hour shifts in support. However, as soon as I was on site, I began working, at 9am. People were arriving in force this day. It was extremely busy and stressful. I was able to snag my newest badge from  AnimeCat. I wouldn't see her much this con, to my great regret.

My attendance was mandatory at Opening Ceremonies and I was on stage. We got late due to technical issues, but it went well. My shameful part in creating a shameful video was somehow well received.

Later Friday, we began to have several issues that would plague us for the entire convention. The down escalator started breaking repeatedly from overuse of old equipment. The lines for the elevators started to build up. We eventually had volunteers forming lines for the elevators and directing those in greater need be able to move to the front of the line.

People started parking terribly in the open auxiliary parking. When people started getting parked in, the hotel opened up a second entrance, though this would not solve the problem. By Saturday we had two staff and four volunteers out there directing traffic just to make sure people weren't trapped.

When I checked in, I found I was one of the individuals whom had booked a double room and was only given a single. The only solution to this was to have a double room for the night, then move to a different double room for Saturday night.

Friday night, I stole time to hit the Guest of Honor dinner. The hotel food was quite good and I spent far too brief a time eating with  Azal.R75 and  RhubarbTheBear. Unfortunately, my position did not let me stay idle long and I had to leave quickly. I got to peak into the one panel I got to attend, though for less than 5 minutes, Flockfest. It seemed like everyone was having a lot of fun playing silly birding games. I had wished to stay, but alas I had not the time.

Friday night ended with a medical call. After that was sorted, I immediately went to my room to roost.

Saturday started early. While I was not officially on duty til 2pm, I was out of the room and working by 8:30am, in full Sheriff regalia. After some initial patrolling and getting updates of the nights events, I hit the hotel lunch buffet. It was an amazing buffet, with all sorts of interesting and tasty offerings, all for $15 (including Tax and Gratuity). This meal I had with  ArcNova who was kind enough to join be for oh so short a meal, as well as constant radio traffic interruption. I had finally taken to using the secret service style headset.

By this time, I had already lost one Lieutenant to illness. Rather than risk infecting the populous, he was relieved of duty so he could go sleep and recover. I would not get him back for the duration of the con. I would lose another lieutenant shortly, due to family emergency.

Saturday was a blur of activity. I was constantly bouncing between crises and incidents. One of the things I try to do when I have a few minutes is to find some of the furs who are sitting alone and see how they are doing. Many of them are newer furs and don't have a lot of friends. It is far too easy to get lost in the larger cons and to spend an entire weekend without meeting anyone, especially for an introvert. So I try to sit down with them for a few minutes, talking with them. I try to suggest different venues for them to meet new furs. In any case, I try to give them a few minutes of real connection to another fur. I value these moments and I hope I'm doing a bit of good with them.

By midday Saturday, two things were abundantly clear. Our elevators were degenerating into chaos and the parking in the auxiliary lot was a mess. We sent two staffers and several volunteers out to the parking lot to begin directing traffic to prevent people from being parked in. This was a grueling duty, but I wasn't able to spare much time out there myself. As for the elevators, we began using volunteers to form traffic and allow priority access for certain individuals. This proved not enough. We attempted to put a staffer there, but his other duties were too important. Finally, I found an eager volunteer,  Vosrood, and put him in charge. He was given a radio and the authority to draw more volunteers. With this dedicated attention, the elevator situation was rectified as well as possible for the day.

Having missed lunch, I managed to hit the hotel buffet for dinner. I was joined by Path, our con chair, and Glass, our previous con chair and current build manager. We ran into a number of individuals Path knew and I met  Chipfox and  DaDingo who were cute and engaging company. The buffet was BBQ. I didn't eat much and the BBQ beef didn't sit well with me. It's the only time I wasn't entirely pleased by the hotel food.

Sunday morning I was up and out of the room by 8:30 as well, this time taking my stuff out for checkout. I was able to his the breakfast buffet with Path, which was nice. Having as much thick sliced bacon as you want is always nice. I needed it as, this day, I was no longer moving confidently. I was hurting, exhausted, and run down and it showed. I tried to put a good face on it, but I wasn't up to the task. Still, I stayed on my hindpaws for another 14 hours this day.

We had ceased staffing the parking lot the previous night. We got several reports of people being parked in, but with people departing, that would resolve itself quickly. Elevators we stuffed volunteers in during peak times, but traffic was a lot lower and the stairs were getting used frequently.

We would find out that someone had picked the lock in Con Suite and stolen all the remaining peanut butter, nutella, and bread, forcing us to shut down this area early. We are debating not having sandwiches available next year because of this and other incidents.

I would donate $100 to CARE over the course of the day. I wasn't the only one. Donations would top $18500. I started saying goodbye to people as they began departing. I didn't manage to buy more than a couple small things during this con and I wasn't able to bid on any art in the Art Show. Hopefully I can get some nice wall art at FWA. However, ArcNova was kind enough to commission a tasteful nude of my character. I'll post that picture soon.

Finally, closing ceremonies happened. I was called up on stage with my two captains, ever so briefly. I donated some of the aforementioned money during the ceremonies and encouraged people to bid during the three quick auction items. It was nice seeing positive reactions to our upcoming theme. People seem genuinely excited about 'Out of the Inkwell: Toon City'. I stayed after to be part of the Scritch and Bitch. As I had missed lunch, I was thoroughly happy to have a box lunch brought to me, that I wolfed down during this time on stage. Once again, someone complimented Security, which is incredibly rare.

Sunday was closed out with saying goodbye to people and ensuring all the radios were turned back in. After I left duty for the last time, I collapsed with Path and several other senior staffers at a table near the fountain.  ino89777 (Telephone) came by and quite amused us after the exhausting convention. She is quite the performance artist.

Monday, I hadn't intended to go back to the con, but I was invited to lunch by  zapnut_shakur and several others, joining them at the Holy Grail, a pub. Here I had a nice recovery lunch of a Monte Cristo. I then took a couple furs who didn't have rides to the Airport. I then found out that a flat tire had rendered impossible the trip to take the large AV ladders back to the rental place. I picked them up and secured them for morning return. I then got a ride to the local Flying Saucer to meet several furs and wind down the weekend.

So, being the Head of Security, it is safe to say that I will be attending Furry Fiesta this year (and since I already worked all of yesterday on it).

I already ran into several furs there. Should be a pretty good con. Hopefully we can make the new hotel like us.

Who all is going? I hope to see many friends there. I do have to say, if you say hi to me and I don't seem to hear you, I may not have. If I acknowledge you and keep moving, I'm probably dealing with something security related. I don't want anyone to take it personally as I might be on a mission. I'll get back with you later. :)

Anyway, I hope you guys all have a good con. Be safe and be kind to the hotel. :)

I recently stumbled across a decent guide for bondage positions. With pictures. Next time you want to commission or draw bondage, here's a great resource for different positions to spice things up:

http://www.restrainedelegance.com/p.....exicon1/icons/

So many tasty ideas. :)

The fourth session of my Jadeclaw campaign has concluded. I'm attempting to keep a campaign journal. I won't be recording any of the behind the screen notes or spoilers for future adventures, so this should be safe for the players to read.
1st Adventure: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4956611/
2nd Adventure: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5124896/
3rd Adventure: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5390253/

The cast of characters:

Alfonse – Male Red Fox Bounty Hunter
This fox hails from Calabria, the main continent setting of Ironclaw. He has traveled to the land of Zhongguo, sent there by the Renaldi, a powerful vulpine merchant family, to hunt a number of dangerous criminals. His arms bear many scars inflicted both by his enemies and mishaps with his own gear. Armed with a mace, for pounding his prey into submission, a stiletto for silencing those in his path, and a pistol for emergencies, he has undergone a lengthy ocean voyage to reach the strange continent of Zhongguo and it's enigmatic inhabitants. First on his list of targets is a regional bandit leader known as Heng Xue or Permanent Snow.

Zho Ti – Male Elephant Martial Artist
This gruff and laconic elephant originally hails from the barbarian lands of Yindu to the south of Zhongguo, though he has traveled civilized lands for many years now. He may be armed with a small variety of weapons, but he is truly fierce when using feet or fist, trunk or tusk. What led him to Zhongguo and why he travels remains a mystery.

Shi Mian – Female Snow Leopard Archer
This snowmew was a natural with the bow before these skills were honed as an auxiliary to the mighty armies of Zhongguo. Through her flows the blood of mountain nomads, who live tough lives in snow and ice, high above the fertile plains and forests. Recently, she has acquired sacred and rare texts which details the very secrets of the bow and has set out to learn their secrets.

Huang Zhi Ling – Male Red Panda Volcano Mage
This shining cat has studied for many years under the tutelage of a master of the ways of fire and fist, possessing the mastery of the five elements and combining it with unarmed combat. Huang Zhi Ling has recently mastered the basics of his school and has been sent out by his master to wander the world and hone his skills.

Returning home after the ambush, the found that most of the work had been completed on their tea house. The cooking area had been completed and the new door was being added to the structure, though the workers were done for the day. They had many questions, including about what they might find at the other X on the crude map they found. Does anyone read these campaign journals?

The night was late, however, and they had traveled far, so they decided to wait until the morning. When they awoke the next day, they tried out their new cooking area and spoke with Su Mei, the helpful porcine merchant. She happily reported the construction progress as well as welcoming them home. They paid her to add installation of the locks to the construction.

Zho Ti took time to speak with various villagers about rumors, though much of that time was taken up by a conversation with Ping Bao, the rabbit farmer. While much of this conversation was limited to a nigh endless stream of consciousness from the female lapine, Zho Ti was able to glean that two rabbit farmers had gone missing recently and that the village hunters had reported running into some individuals in the woods every so often.

However, the party cut this line of inquiry short to investigate the other location on the map. Afterall, two assassins had escaped and the party assumed this other X was their camp. The location was nestled at the base of a cliff on the far end of the valley, away from the road an anything else. It took them several hours to approach the site. As they approached, they found an ancient stone building surrounded by a largely collapsed stone wall.

From a ways out, they saw flashes of activity inside the walled area, flashes of green and turquoise. They called out, but got no answer. They shouted that they didn't want to fight, but the answer was silence. As they drew close enough to see through the gaps in the wall, there was a large reflecting pool in front of the entrance to the building, flanked by four ancient stone statues. As they watched, a giant ice block rotated out of the pool to barricade the building. The entire reflecting pool had been frozen solid and was now blocking the interior.

Two cultist archers remained in the courtyard and fired at the party. They continued trying to reason with the hedgehog and shrew, who responded by firing at them with arrows. In response, Alfonse pulled out his pistol and fired, instantly killing the hedgehog. The clouds began to darken, turning an angry stormy gray.

As the party prepared to assault the courtyard, two of the granite statues began to shift, turning into pure jade. As they watched, the vaguely humanoid forms began to move, turning to face them. As the shrew peppered them with arrows, they began to attack, but the jade statues seemed to shrug off attacks. Huang Zhi Ling began pelting the massive ice block with summoned scalding irons, beginning to destroy it.

Shi Mian quickly discovered that arrows just bounced off the solid jade golems and Zho Ti found he trunk and tusks were not strong enough to reliably damage them. Massive hail started to fall from the sky, pelting everyone in the area, save for the one lone cultist who seemed immune. Huang was able to destroy the wall of ice even as Alfonse destroyed a golem with his mace, before two more animated. The golems began to attack in greater force, forcing the party to shelter behind the building, all the while being battered by potentially lethal hail.

After a long, bloody brawl, the last of the six jade golems fell to pieces before then. The party charged forward, attacking the last archer until he was forced to flee. The party attempted to assault the interior of the building, the two mages inside lashing them with powerful magics, able to bend reality to their will. Fighting forward in the face of unrelenting punishment, the party managed to slay the shrew outright while the otter hissed out his last words, “She is coming. You will not stop her resurrection.”

Everyone battered, bloodied, injured, but alive, the party found themselves in an ancient burial tomb. A single cracked sarcophagus remained, unopened in hundreds of years, with an inscription faded and lost to time. They left it alone, finding nothing but coin and weaponry on the fallen bodies, leaving them with yet more questions.

Who was buried in this tomb and why? The cultists had only recently occupied this place. Why? Who is trying to kill them? And will they be able to stop the next assassination attempt that is surely coming?

The third session of my Jadeclaw campaign has concluded. I'm attempting to keep a campaign journal. I won't be recording any of the behind the screen notes or spoilers for future adventures, so this should be safe for the players to read. The first adventure journal can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4956611/ and the second can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5124896/

The cast of characters:

Alfonse – Male Red Fox Bounty Hunter
This fox hails from Calabria, the main continent setting of Ironclaw. He has traveled to the land of Zhongguo, sent there by the Renaldi, a powerful vulpine merchant family, to hunt a number of dangerous criminals. His arms bear many scars inflicted both by his enemies and mishaps with his own gear. Armed with a mace, for pounding his prey into submission, a stiletto for silencing those in his path, and a pistol for emergencies, he has undergone a lengthy ocean voyage to reach the strange continent of Zhongguo and it's enigmatic inhabitants. First on his list of targets is a regional bandit leader known as Heng Xue or Permanent Snow.

Zho Ti – Male Elephant Martial Artist
This gruff and laconic elephant originally hails from the barbarian lands of Yindu to the south of Zhongguo, though he has traveled civilized lands for many years now. He may be armed with a small variety of weapons, but he is truly fierce when using feet or fist, trunk or tusk. What led him to Zhongguo and why he travels remains a mystery.

Shi Mian – Female Snow Leopard Archer
This snowmew was a natural with the bow before these skills were honed as an auxiliary to the mighty armies of Zhongguo. Through her flows the blood of mountain nomads, who live tough lives in snow and ice, high above the fertile plains and forests. Recently, she has acquired sacred and rare texts which details the very secrets of the bow and has set out to learn their secrets.

Huang Zhi Ling – Male Red Panda Volcano Mage
This shining cat has studied for many years under the tutelage of a master of the ways of fire and fist, possessing the mastery of the five elements and combining it with unarmed combat. Huang Zhi Ling has recently mastered the basics of his school and has been sent out by his master to wander the world and hone his skills.


The party stumbled back home, exhausted and worn out from the harrowing adventure, arriving back mid-afternoon. As the elephant and snowmew collapsed in exhaustion, the fox stayed up to clean while the red panda decided that he both the party and the inn needed supplies. The town is small enough that there are no real shops other than the smithy, but there are stalls set up for a market. Every day there are a different set of merchants selling their various wares.

Huang Zhi Ling first approached a female pig merchant by the name of Su Mei (Respectful Beauty). A portly lady, she seemed to deal in general goods, with connections to got most basic supplies. Honest and straightforward, she spoke with the mage and gave them a general welcome into town, expressing that they seemed like nice people to know, though with a glance to the money purse Huang Zhi Ling carried. Su Mei cheerfully sold them various short term supplies for the inn, such as oil for lamps and to repair the existing wooden furniture. When asked, she spoke briefly of the history of the Numbers family:

The matriarch of the clan had five identical daughters. These Siamese kittens were difficult to tell apart by the overworked parents, who finally just started referring to them by number. This became a term of affection as the daughters grew. When Number 4 married and had identical triplet girls, she officially named them 5, 6, and 7. As her sisters found their own husbands and found every child to be girls, and never less than twins, the tradition was born. The Matriarch of this clan, still alive though very old these days, is still alive. The family serves as guards for the town and soldiers for the army when called. The party still has no way to tell the apart, but the villagers seem to be able to.

After getting general supplies, the other merchant present was Ping Bao (Peaceful Treasure), a young rabbit rice merchant. The party was well stocked with rice from purchasing information previously, but Ping Bao had a variety of other vegetables in small quantities. Upon approach, the excitable rabbit immediately began asking questions, often not letting Huang Zhi Ling to answer. Ping Bao seemed to never need to breathe between questions and only got a handful of answers, but seemed cheerful enough with that.

After a fitful night of rest, the group began taking stock of their situation. They had a crushing tax burden, but right now the tea house/inn wasn't functional. It had been mothballed for too long. They had made small improvements, but more work was needed. First, however, Shi Mian decided she needed to get barbed arrows. The snow leopard went to the local smith. Inside were a pair of mice, making small metal objects for the town. The male continued hammering away while the female set aside her work to greet the new arrival, who without preamble gruffly announced that she needed barbed arrows. The mouse curtly asked for her name, which was given curtly. The lady of the smithy, knowing that this foreigner had already killed one person in questionable circumstances, picked up a hammer and, in no uncertain terms, declared that they would not do business with murderers. Shi Mian, sensing disaster, departed and the party decided to give the smithy a wide berth for some time.

It was then decided that the inn had no real place to cook more than rice, as it had functioned largely as a tea house and inn only, and that they wanted to serve actual food as well as having a place to make food for themselves. Huang Zhi Ling approached Su Mei about arranging for a minor improvement to the inn. An area would be turned into a covered cooking area for mongolian style stir fry, with the covered area floored with flagstones. Further, the small storage area on the first floor would be changed to another exit into this new cooking area. Further, they needed to go into the city to arrange for the purchase of alcohol, tea, and other supplies to improve their new home. The nearest guard, 26, was informed that they would be departing to the city the next day, and she indicated that they would watch the inn closely during that time.

With arrangements made, they spent the next day traveling to Cheng Dou. This massive city is the capital of the province, and is a center of learning. Here, they purchased a number of upgrades for their tea house: Better furniture and finishes for the tea room
Improved quality beds and furniture for half the rooms
Really good quality beds and furniture for the rest of the inn rooms,
Simple Locks for all interior doors
Good Locks for all exterior doors
A supply of poor, medium and fine quality alcohol
A supply of poor, medium and fine quality tea
Mountain Scale armor for Alfonse and Zho Ti (Armor made

The sum total of this will allow the party to provide good quality meals, drinks, and lodging to travelers. Departing, loaded down with the first of the goods with the rest to be delivered shortly, the party began their return to their small village.

About half way back, all the bushes start shaking around them and crossbow bolts fly through the air, missing three of the party, but grievously wounding Alfonse. Confused, as no enemies are immediately visible but the bushes all around them are shaking, they start preparing to face an unseen enemy. More crossbows fire each turn as they investigate one of the shaking bushes to find it empty, but a rope attached to the base of the bush and hidden in a shallow trench.

After a couple rounds of being attacked and firing blind into the bushes, they find one of the culprits, a squirrel who sprung out of a bush to attack, though half the bushes went silent when he did so. The red panda finally prepared his massive area effect spell, dropping it on a suspected area and blasting two assailants, revealing them (a rat and an otter). The elephant charged forward at the squirrel, only to find a second squirrel jump out and attack. The pistol shot from Alfonse went wide, missing his target. The party continued to fight, eventually slaying the two squirrels and the rat. During this time, one of the hidden archers charged forward at the elephant from behind. The hedgehog attacked the elephant with spines, mildly hurting him.

The mage blasted the hedgehog, slaying him, before the surviving (if singed) hedgehog and final unknown attacker fled into the woods. On the dead, they found various supplies, plus a crude map of the area, with one X marking the spot where they were attacked, but another mysterious X inside their home valley, though far from the village itself. What could this other X be? Tune in next time to find out.

Over the weekend I was able to attend Nightmare Nights Dallas. This was an MLP con in Addison, TX, backed by the same organization that runs Furry Fiesta.

Thursday night, after work, I went to pick up my badge and to meet up with  AnimeCat and  akelavincent. We headed out to dinner at Spring Creek BBQ, a pretty decent local BBQ joint. I parted ways with them afterwards. As I was nestling into my aerie that evening, I got a text that had been sent out indicating that NMN desperately needed staff to assist the next day.

Friday was the first true con day. I showed up bright and early that morning, dressed in my explorer's outfit. Having received the call late the previous evening, I headed to Registration where  Savrin, one of the two convention chairs, was working. I quickly hopped behind the desk and started assisting. I spent all morning from 9 to 2 helping to register the attendees. Around 2, when I hadn't eaten yet and things were quieting down, I pulled the drag chute and escaped. I made a quick solo run to Dairy Queen to treat myself. Returning to the con, I was finally able to meet up with  xavieroren and his mate  Cavic for the first time IRL. The rest of the day was largely hanging out with them and hitting the dealer's den. That evening the three of us went to Spring Creek BBQ. It's a decent enough place that I can take it two days in a row and they wanted BBQ. When we got back, we were able to meet up with  Stargazer79. The four of us hung out for a few hours before we each headed home.

Saturday, I once more returned to reg at 9am. This time dressed in my sheriff's outfit. They were still severely short hoofed. I did enjoying blowing the mind of one little girl. She asked that her badge name be Pinkamena. I typed it up and she said, off hand, that I probably didn't know anything about that. So I simply responded 'Pinkamena Diane Pie', the purported full name of Pinkie Pie in the show. Her eyes got big and she was amazed that I had watched the show and knew this. It was another long morning behind the reg desk. Around 2 I was once more able to escape to get lunch. The patient and long suffering StarGazer joined me for lunch at JC's, a pretty decent local burger joint. Upon our return, we hooked up with Oren and Cavi again. Got to see AnimeCat's new subtle Gilda cosplay, which was cool. The rest of the day was largely spent chatting and wandering the con. Saw a few furries and directed them to the Arlington Furmeet the following day. For dinner, the four of us went to Bavarian Grill, one of the best German places I know. I had a wondrous schnitzel stuffed with cheese, Spätzle, and a potato pancake with applesauce. It was a glorious meal.

Sunday, in steampunk attire, I returned to the con. Registration was dead and I was shortly chased out. I wandered the con until StarGazer arrived. We hit Romano's Macaroni Grill for lunch. Afterwards we met up with Oren and Cavi. We made our last dealer's den run, picking up a few things on sale and placed a couple orders. StarGazer and I played a game of X-Wing Miniatures.

In the X-Wing game, I decided I wanted to play a hearty list. As Imperials, I chose to fly the Imperial Lambda shuttle (Omicron Group Pilot) with an engine upgrade and a rebel captive and three identical TIE Bombers (Gamma Squadron Pilot) with concussion missiles and seismic charges. Star Gazer took Roark Garnet in the Moldy Crow (HWK-290), Dutch Vander in a Y-Wing and a Generic Gold Squadron pilot in a Y-Wing, each with several upgrades and secondary weapons. I dropped all my missiles on the Gold Squad Y-Wing, damaging it but not destroying it. I then brought it into arc with my shuttle, destroying it. Then, as Dutch and Roark banked around, two of my TIE bombers dropped the seismic charges Star Gazer had totally forgotten about. This proved devastating, as one bomb hit both his ships as well as my shuttle and one TIE Bomber and the second hit Dutch and that same TIE Bomber. The next turn, my shuttle moved to perfectly sit in the gap between the Moldy Crow and the Y-Wing, being a millimeter from each base. This brought the HWK perfectly into the gunsights of the Lambda shuttle, where it was destroyed. Seeing that the TIE Bombers were all still alive, though a couple heavily damaged, and the shuttle baring down on him, Dutch fled the field. Both kills of the game were scored by the shuttle and Dutch would have about seven years of interesting paperwork to explain why two ships critical to the alliance were destroyed by a light utility shuttle in a dog fight.

After our game, StarGazer, Oren, Cavi, AnimeCat, Akela, two of their friends, and I went to BJ's. It was a great post-con meal and we spent several hours chatting before we parted ways.

It was a good con and I'm glad everyone seemed to have a good time. I didn't have nearly as many friends at this con as most I go to. Still, I'm glad I went and I am happy I was able to help out a bit. Sometimes, it's nice to be needed.

Final Swag List:
Badge from AnimeCat
Twilight Sparkle Bow-Tie from MyLittleTies
Gilda Flank mousepad
4 Laser Etched Pint Glasses from Lone Star Laser
Custom Gilda repaint for my colors on order
Shadowbox with a Rampant Nightmare Moon by the Paper Pony

Several of my friends are having career issues, either feeling they are stuck in dead end jobs, can't find a job, or are having troubles getting a job that doesn't pay enough. As such, I decided I would put out a quick journal covering my thoughts on the matter.

Before we start, the economy is horrible right now. Almost everyone is hurting. That doesn't mean that you can't get a better job, only that it will be harder and require more effort on your part.

1) Get your resume together. It doesn't matter where you are in your career, you need a resume. There are example resumes plastered all over the internet. A simple google search will bring up hundreds. 80% of all the professionals you know have one. Get some example resumes and ask for copies of the resumes of your friends. From that, you'll get a good idea what yours should look like. Make your resume and tweak it the way you want it. Then, take your resume to everyone you know who can't escape in time and ask them to review your resume. Your first attempt is going to be poor, and only half the advice you get will be worthwhile. But after your resume has gone through 20 reviews, it should be pretty solid. Your resume is never done.

2) Every career has multiple paths to get into the career. There is generally a traditional path, but there are all sorts of other paths. If you want to be a network engineer, you can start as tech support, slowly working your way up the chain, and hope. This is the traditional path. Or you can join the military, get a bunch of tech training, then get out and go in that way. Or you can get a degree in network engineering and go in as a fresh faced young professional. Or you can go out and self study for a bunch of networking certifications and start interviewing for entry level network jobs. Every career is like this. If you desperately want to be in a certain career, you need to start working towards it, but know there are many ways to go about it, so if one avenue doesn't work, try another. Yes, this is a long, hard process, but entirely possible.

3) You are not committed to a job until you actually start that job. That means if you are unhappy in your current job but you are worried that you won't be paid as much in another job, or concerns about the benefits, or anything else, you have options. You can have your resume posted to job sites. You can talk with recruiters. When you find job openings you can ignore most of them and only follow up promising leads. When you get interview requests, you can turn them down unless there's one you like. Then, when you get a job offer, you can look at the offer and decide then. If you are worried that you won't like the work environment, you can find people that work there and ask how things are. You aren't committed until the end. You can always say NO at any point in this process.

4) If you lack experience in a particular area and you know it, prepare. Be ready to explain why you have experience that, while not a direct fit, has a direct bearing on the situation. You may have never worked with SQL before, but you can explain how you dabble in C++ and pick up these things quickly. You may not know much about network design, but having worked programming in a furry convention, explain the general approach to design and how you are working towards greater understanding, demonstrated by your pursuit of technical certifications. You feel you can do this job, even though there are aspects you are unfamiliar with. You know the interviewer wants to know if you have these skills and if not, how you are going to deal with that lack. So, prepare your answers. Be able to articulate why you are a good worker before the interview starts.

5) Don't be discouraged by few hits. If you have your resume posted and you aren't getting much interest, change your resume around and see if that helps. If you are getting lots of hits on your resume but you aren't getting any interview requests, tweak the resume to highlight important things without changing the overall structure. If you are getting initial interviews but not getting asked back, start working on your interview skills. Practice your answers in a mirror or change your appearance slightly to match the appearance of the interviewers, be that wearing different clothes or facial hair alteration. Practice your confidence. Remember, they are just as scared as you are. They have a host of people they need to choose from and have little idea how to choose someone. Be open and honest and always remember that they are people.

6) Start studying. The best way to get any job is knowledge. If you work in a tech field, spend much of your off time getting certifications. Listen to industry talks. If you are in retail, start learning your products inside and out. If you are in customer service, learn about customer interaction as well as how customer flow works. In essence, start working to be an expert in something related to the job you want. If an employer has to choose between someone who is just going to sit at the cash register and mechanically go through the motions and one that will engage and offer knowledgeable advice about how to redesign the cash register layout, they will take the latter.

7) Be willing to take risks. This may mean being willing to move to a new area or take a job in something only tangentially related to your experience. This may mean completely changing career paths. This may mean joining the army. Be willing to try new things, because every job has its foibles. Life is full of uncertainty, but the only way to make it more certain is experience and knowledge. Sometimes, you just have to swallow your fear and DO something. Happiness is something that you have to find and it doesn't come free.

This is a brief overview, but I hope it helps.

The second session of my Jadeclaw campaign has concluded. I'm attempting to keep a campaign journal. I won't be recording any of the behind the screen notes or spoilers for future adventures, so this should be safe for the players to read. The first adventure journal can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4956611/

As a reminder:

The cast of characters:

Alfonse – Male Red Fox Bounty Hunter
This fox hails from Calabria, the main continent setting of Ironclaw. He has traveled to the land of Zhongguo, sent there by the Renaldi, a powerful vulpine merchant family, to hunt a number of dangerous criminals. His arms bear many scars inflicted both by his enemies and mishaps with his own gear. Armed with a mace, for pounding his prey into submission, a stiletto for silencing those in his path, and a pistol for emergencies, he has undergone a lengthy ocean voyage to reach the strange continent of Zhongguo and it's enigmatic inhabitants. First on his list of targets is a regional bandit leader known as Heng Xue or Permanent Snow.

Zho Ti – Male Elephant Martial Artist
This gruff and laconic elephant originally hails from the barbarian lands of Yindu to the south of Zhongguo, though he has traveled civilized lands for many years now. He may be armed with a small variety of weapons, but he is truly fierce when using feet or fist, trunk or tusk. What led him to Zhongguo and why he travels remains a mystery.

Shi Mian – Female Snow Leopard Archer
This snowmew was a natural with the bow before these skills were honed as an auxiliary to the mighty armies of Zhongguo. Through her flows the blood of mountain nomads, who live tough lives in snow and ice, high above the fertile plains and forests. Recently, she has acquired sacred and rare texts which details the very secrets of the bow and has set out to learn their secrets.

Huang Zhi Ling – Male Red Panda Volcano Mage
This shining cat has studied for many years under the tutelage of a master of the ways of fire and fist, possessing the mastery of the five elements and combining it with unarmed combat. Huang Zhi Ling has recently mastered the basics of his school and has been sent out by his master to wander the world and hone his skills.

As the previous adventure ended, our party found themselves shown the door from the imperial taxation magistrate for the region. They are battered and bruised, still covered in the dried blood from their attack on Permanent Snow's tea house. They were given a scroll containing the deed to an inn that had been used by Permanent Snow as a tax shelter. He had reported all his income as income from this inn. The party is now saddled with a massive tax burden due in 6 month.

Now that they had a moment to breathe, they found that their deed lists their new Inn is called the Island of Tranquillity, in a small mountain village called 'The Valley of the Tears of Jade', nestled deep in the mountains. The party, weary and blood soaked, was able to find an open tea house. The overly polite female raccoon running the place was unable to throw them out, finally allowing them a meal and a bath, though no more. Finding little welcome in the small town around the magistrate's estate and the sun falling, the party resigned themselves to a long, night journey to their new home.

Many long hours passed for the weary travellers, following a small mountain road through the forest, ever climbing in elevation, stopping only for brief meals. Just after dawn, as the sun began to rise, they crested the ridge to the valley, finally seeing their new home in the distance. Across a heavily wooded valley, nestled a small town at the base of a thousand foot cliff. A waterfall cascaded over the cliff to fall half way down the cliff to a pool in a small grove, before splitting off into three separate waterfalls that cascade into the lake at the base of the cliff, which is surrounded by the town Valley of the Tears of Jade. The rising sun reflected off the water, causing the entire scene to shimmer and adding a warm glow to the granite cliffs.

The village formed a rough half circle around the lake, with rice paddies nestled along the western flank of the cliff following a branching stream from the lake. The village seemed small, but well maintained, though with only the single road leading to this isolated village.

Bolstered by the breathtaking scene, they once more descended into the forest, following the small trail. Not wanting to reach a possibly hostile locale exhausted, they started looking for a good place to camp, but as they found one, the town guard who had been sent out to meet the travellers spied as they crested the ridge reached them. Dressed in well worn blue guard leathers was a Siamese Cat who demanded to know the purpose of these four blood stained foreigners. They party explained that they were the new owners of the inn after the demise of Permanent Snow. The guard claims her name is 17.

Unable to verify their story but noticing the deed, though unable to read it, held the seal of the officious Bright Justice, she grudgingly informed them of the location of the inn and welcomed them. She mentioned that the inn had been mothballed years ago, only being opened up every few years when a tax assessor stopped by and that there were strict orders not to let anyone sleep in the inn.

Another short walk to the village itself was filled with stony silence as the cat was clearly not happy with these foreigners. They found that their inn was a large structure right at the edge of the village on the road. The structure was two storied, with a large open common room, with a tea bar. A door led out the far end of this room into a hallway with a dozen or so rooms. Stairs led up to a large, open room having been used mostly for storage. The entire structure was filled with years of dust, clearly having been neglected but mothballed so the structure itself was sound.

Unwilling to split up, the party decided to camp in the common room, while Zho Ti stood guard. Exhausted, Zho Ti tried to maintain watchfulness but began to zone out only to notice a flash of turquoise behind the bar where Alfonse slept. At a shout, the fox woke to find a turquoise robed figure with an intricate knife standing over him. Reacting in alarm, the bounty hunt pulled his gun and shot the figure dead. Three more appeared, one at the door and two at windows. The fight was over quickly, with Shi Mian killing another of the robed figured and a third being set on fire, before two survivors retreated into the woods. Shortly thereafter, the guards appear, having been alerted by the gunshot. The guards are both female siamese cats and look almost indistinguishable to 17, but claim to be 14 and 21. Finding two dead figures, they began to question the party.

As murder hasn't happened in the town for years, the guards are suspicious of the foreigners, but grudgingly accept that the party was attacked on their own land and arrange for the bodies to be removed by a local Ox. On the bodies, the party find an incredibly intricate dagger with both turquoise and jade inlaid into the hilt and blade. Clearly, this is a ceremonial dagger. A much younger female Siamese cat is sent to guard them while they sleep. She is young and curious, with a bubbly personality and seems fascinated by Zho Ti.

After resting for much of the day, the party heads out to track the two fled figured. After several hours tracking, they find a hidden encampment, filled with figured garbed in leather armor or robes, mostly dyed a jade color, with some in Turquoise. The fighting is vicious and brutal, as the party assaults less powerful but more numerous defenders in an entrenched position. Incredibly, the cultists fight to the last man, with none escaped or captured. Looting the encampment, they find a number of weapons and a large cache of coin under an alter to a seemingly unfinished jade figure. They had slain two mages. The one that had been set on fire had a scroll that had been burned and destroyed, but the other had an intact scroll. They burned the corpses before returning back home, ending the session.

The contents of the scroll follow:

Oh wondrous divinity
Shimmering Mother of Life
She who creates and inspires
Emerald goddess of our land

Land of beauty created for us
Wherein joy and love dwell
Sculpted from living stone
Hidden within mountains great

This beloved land as hewn from willing rock
Concealed from jealous gods and greedy kings
Serene tribute to she who is one yet three
Slumbering as constant beauty ever changing

Four shall sleep within a mountain isle
And yet serene shall the restless be
Flowing blood shall stain the earth
And herald the beginning of paradise

Brown and green shall bring red and gold
Danger shall find the specter of the weald
Blue begets blue to protect white and gray
Hiding where traitorous spirits hold sway

Fear and doubt shall fill the land
Claws and teeth shall own the night
Stalking or striding they shall come
Even faithful shall feel their wrath

Silent death shall stalk the land
They shall replace and infiltrate
The less common shall seek to ascend
And take their place in the light

Death shall slip their hoary bonds
And descend on paradise befouled
To eternally revenge a lover slain
Or beside the betrayed rest evermore

Her bounty shall increase its flow
The waiting ground shall herald her
A ring most pure shall bound her love
And her servants shall walk the land

Her love shall cleanse the world
Pervasive evil shall sweep away
Her blessings shall make us hers
And we shall live forever more

So, recently on FA the song The Fox by Ylvis went viral. With good reason, it's a silly, catchy song intimately related to furries and exploring the most beloved and maligned of the creatures in the furry fandom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE

However, I've seen the song dismissed as no more than silly and I wanted to offer my critique of the work and explore some of the deeper meaning to be found here. If you haven't seen the video, you really should watch it to glean anything from this analysis.

First of all, the song starts with what is a casual dismissal of other types of animals. Dog goes woof, cat goes meow, bird goes tweet, and mouse goes squeak. This neatly and safely stereotypes other animals and sets them apart as other. You don't need to know anything more about otters than they say ow ow ow. The singer reserves all wonder not just for the fox but for the exploration of what it is to be a fox. Discarding such a pat, stereotyped answer for the fox, he spends the rest of the song exploring his interpretations of all that is vulpine. Silly, varied, yet personal. Each time he returns to imagined fox noises, they are vastly different and varied. While the singer may have chosen absurd examples, the varied nature of these noises conveys the nuanced nature of the fox. It is worth noting that, even during the most ridiculous noises, Ylvis never breaks with the sense of awe he feels about the fox. The essence of being a furry is to embrace and explore the totality of our perception of an animal, in this case fox. We may thoroughly enjoy other creatures, but none of them retain that sense of wonder for us.

Next, it is worth noting that the beginning of the video, when the other animals are discussed, Ylvis is inside, clothed normally. Every shot of the others is to convey their otherness. The others are shot walking away from him, their backs to him, or they are in the side of the shot with the film slowed down or filmed as though through a crowd, each shot used to convey that they are other. That they are apart of not only the singer, but from us as well. The rest of the song, exploring the mystery of the fox, is shot in the woods. Support dancers with vulpine aspects surround the singer as he dons the guise of a fox. This conveys togetherness, as if he had found his place among others who share this sense of awe. Even in the furry fandom, where we embrace that which is other, one often finds especially pulled towards others of the same species. There's a brotherhood there, rife with understanding and recognition. We find that while we may love and adore and admire other species in the furry fandom, there's always a touch of alien to it. These differences are magnified versions of the differences and kinship we feel outside of the fandom. In this way, the song and video convey this connection to others who seek the same mystery as we do.

Another important bit of meaning can be found in two seemingly separate aspects. In the forest, Ylvis is surrounded by light. The mist and darkness crowds the edge of the frame, but the singer is bathed in light obviously pointed at the singer. This is a wonderful symbol of where the light of investigation and knowledge is being shed; on within. The song may suggest that the hunt is external, but the framing and lighting suggests the opposite. In essence, both are true. He is seeking the alien within his own self.

It should not go unnoticed that the singer is frequently replaced by an old man reading a story to a young boy. On the most basic level, this is a symbol for sharing knowledge across generations. More specifically however, it is often in these times as children that we learn wonder. These stories form the basis of cultural understanding as we grow older, teaching us morals and shaping our lives as well as helping us explore new worlds in the form of our imagination. The interpolation of Ylvis with this concept helps convey they idea that this exploration of an animal helps form the core of our being. A worthy exploration, to be sure.

Near the end, when the external fox finally does make it's noise, it is near but unseen by the singer and his entourage. An important point is made here. The real creature is closer to us than we realize. More than that though, when the fox does speak, it is still external. The real investigation and value is not external to us, but the exploration of within. It is not the fox that matters most, but the exploration of what it is to be a fox that truly matters. In other words, how the external affects us is more important than the external creature itself. Through this we understand that the meaning of life is found not outside of us, but within us.

What are your thoughts on this video and song?

So, I recently started a Jadeclaw campaign and figured I might try keeping a journal of this adventure. This should help me make a better game as well as hopefully give entertainment and inspiration to those who read the journal. Keep in mind that this will be visible to the players, so if you have comments or suggestions you'd rather the players not see, send them to me privately. Further, I will attempt to avoid revealing spoilers for the future.

For those of you who don't know, Ironclaw is a furry fantasy tabletop RPG. In the traditional pencil and paper style, the players take control of characters who act as their avatar into the world and story that I, the Game Master, weave. For those of you who are familiar with RPGs of this nature but not Ironclaw, I highly recommend you look into it. Ironclaw: Squaring the Circle is the base book for 2nd Edition and is beautifully made with a full color interior and fantastic art. I've gushed about it in older journals. The expansion Book of Jade (Jadeclaw for short), expanded the world into a feudal Chinese setting.

Now, the cast of characters:

Alfonse – Male Red Fox Bounty Hunter
This fox hails from Calabria, the main continent setting of Ironclaw. He has traveled to the land of Zhongguo, sent there by the Renaldi, a powerful vulpine merchant family, to hunt a number of dangerous criminals. His arms bear many scars inflicted both by his enemies and mishaps with his own gear. Armed with a mace, for pounding his prey into submission, a stiletto for silencing those in his path, and a pistol for emergencies, he has undergone a lengthy ocean voyage to reach the strange continent of Zhongguo and it's enigmatic inhabitants. First on his list of targets is a regional bandit leader known as Heng Xue or Permanent Snow.

Zho Ti – Male Elephant Martial Artist
This gruff and laconic elephant originally hails from the barbarian lands of Yindu to the south of Zhongguo, though he has traveled civilized lands for many years now. He may be armed with a small variety of weapons, but he is truly fierce when using feet or fist, trunk or tusk. What led him to Zhongguo and why he travels remains a mystery.

Shi Mian – Female Snow Leopard Archer
This snowmew was a natural with the bow before these skills were honed as an auxiliary to the mighty armies of Zhongguo. Through her flows the blood of mountain nomads, who live tough lives in snow and ice, high above the fertile plains and forests. Recently, she has acquired sacred and rare texts which details the very secrets of the bow and has set out to learn their secrets.

Huang Zhi Ling – Male Red Panda Volcano Mage
This shining cat has studied for many years under the tutelage of a master of the ways of fire and fist, possessing the mastery of the five elements and combining it with unarmed combat. Huang Zhi Ling has recently mastered the basics of his school and has been sent out by his master to wander the world and hone his skills.

The adventure begins with Alfonse, stepping onto the dock of the city of Wu in the state of Wu. A long, grueling voyage behind him, this weary traveler strides down the dock towards the shore. A shady dockhand suddenly points at him and declares 'For you crimes against Permanent Snow, you shall die!' This otter and a rat pull out ill kept weapons and attack. Nearby, Huang Zhi Ling, his eyes shrouded by his iconic hat, walks down the street, headed for the docks to begin seeking his fortune, when two ruffians block his path. Decrying that he shall die for the crimes of his school and his master, he too is set upon. Nearby, as Zho Ti browses the poor wares of a vegetable stall, the mouse vendor pulls out a sword and announces a similar death sentence, joined by a nearby shrew stall keeper with a bow. Shi Mian, walking along the docks, sees two oxen striding towards him. They look startled with the previous three cries go up nearly in unison, looking sheepish that they hadn't reached their target yet. But they point and it is clear they plan to attack.

The fight lasts no more than half a minute. Alfonse, pressed by the dockhands, manages to fight them off and set paw on dry land once more, but is injured in the process. Shi Mian dispatches the two oxen before saving the captain of the ship that bore Alfonse with a well placed arrow. The shining cat began lighting assailants on fire through sheer force of will, even as feline archers appeared. And Zho Ti, initially frightened by the sudden attack of rodent merchants, dispatched one before grabbing another with his truck. So held, he began to pull the unfortunate soul onto and off of those great tusks, rending the shrew into an unrecognizable pile.

With their attackers dead or fled, the sound of the city guard approaching becomes unmistakable. A quick search of the bodies reveals a letter. Written by Permanent Snow, he directs that the party is to be eliminated in broad daylight as an example to those who would challenge him. Further, the letter warns that the attackers better succeed or they should not return and more shall be sent. Finally, when successful, they are to return to his tea house in the state of Chi, the border of Zhongguo as a whole and the western barbarian tribes.

The thankful bat captain, already heading that way, took the party on board. Another month of sea travel, around the lands of Yindu to the state of Chi, passed in misery. The party introduced themselves to each other, not understanding why they had been targeted in this attack, but no answers were apparent. Finally, after the bleak trip, the four intrepid adventurers found themselves in Chi.

Once more on blessed land, they began the journey to the tea house. Two days they walked, relearning the joys of land and of forest in the spring. They then reached the isolated tea house, the lair of Permanent Snow. Three felt the best plan was to walk in the front door, seeking Heng Xue, while Shi Mian decided to flank through the kitchen. Upon entering the tea house, the room went silent. A brash dog proclaimed 'There's only three, we can take 'em!' and weapons were drawn. Meanwhile, Shi Mian's attempt to flank through the kitchen failed when one of the two oxen cooks threw a cleaver at her head and they attacked.

The fight was fierce and savage. The party was wounded and pushed out of the inn at one point, but fought back refusing to retreat or to die. The snowmew was forced back as well before dispatching the cooks and returning to support the rest of the team. With archers on the second floor harrying the party, Permanent Snow, a rough boar, charged Shi Mian, who was cut off from the group. Desperately fending off his attacks, the bounty hunter pulled out his pistol, firing at Heng Xue to save the archers life, and blowing the head of the boar apart. With their leader dead and the shock of a firearm, the remaining men scattered into the night air, leaving the party, bloody and stunned, reeling from the vicious and close fight. Which is when the patrolling imperial army unit arrives.

The four suspected murders are quickly disarmed and arrested. They are roughed up and thrown in a wagon as the soldiers explore the charnel house, seizing paperwork found inside. The party is hauled before an Imperial Magistrate not of Justice, but of Tax, a peacock by the name of Ming Yi or Bright Justice. They are left bound, forced to kneel before the magistrate. The peacock takes his time reviewing the seized documents.

Finally, he looks up and, with great regret, announces that the papers clearly indicate that Permanent Snow was a villain and an enemy of the empire. Instead of being executed, which they clearly deserve, he is authorized and required to reward them. They will be given a small portion of Heng Xue's holdings. This will be an inn, located in a small town in the mountains of Chi. They are to be made official citizens of Chi. Finally, for their service, they will be granted the right to provide only half the tax expected of them in the first year. This tax value was calculated based off the past 5 years of income from this inn.

Six months hence, in the fall, the party will be jointly required to pay 75,000 Bu (the average peasant makes less than 1 Bu a day, meaning the modern equivalent is roughly $5 million US). This is because every bit of stolen loot, plundered ship, or ransomed victim was dutifully and officially recorded as income from the inn. There is no problem with the paperwork reporting this as it was all witnessed and attested to by magistrates, meaning that it is entirely official. And the inn is a reward from an imperial magistrate in the name of the Emperor himself, meaning that the empire will take grave offense to any attempt to avoid taxation or destruction of the inn.

The party, now rewarded with an inn and crushing tax burden, is released. Weary in body and spirit, they must now travel to their new home, which they have never seen, and prepare to face a suddenly daunting future. For villains may be slain and evils overcome, but one day soon, the weight of impending tax will fall. The only thing certain of their future is death and taxes.

Session 2 is here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5124896/

So... It's my hatchday. I'm now well and truly out of my 20s. I am no longer a young man. It was a decade that held many accomplishments. I joined the Army and went to war. And came back. I got my bachelor's degree. I got a series of ever more important jobs in the tech industry. I became an important staff member of a major furry convention. I found many friends and went many places. I don't have to look back on those years with regret, though I will ever regret many small events in that time.

Life has been good to me. Yet I still hunger for more. I've only really had a single boyfriend, and that was after I turned 30. I have no one to share my life with, though there is still time. I want more schooling and I would love to pursue advanced degrees. I'm being pulled towards science, though I doubt I'll ever be able to call myself a scientist at this point. The writing of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins and, above all, Charles Darwin have left a strong impression upon me.

I don't want to be satisfied with my life. And while I may regret aspects of my life, I don't want to regret never having lived at all. May the future be bright for us all.

I am happy to announce that planning for Furry Fiesta 2014 is well under way. The theme will be Heroes and Villains. Our sixth year, TFF will be held in the Intercontinental Dallas. This is a new hotel for us and, though we will miss the Crowne Plaza, we simply outgrew it and this new hotel has a much larger space. . We're excited about the possibilities the new hotel is offering us and we hope you all fall in love with it too. We are hard at work trying to make 2014 the best Furry Fiesta yet. Last year, we had 1492 attendees, which is incredible for a fifth year con.

Our website, www.furryfiesta.org should be updated for our new year today. If you are curious, the wonderful banner art on the website comes from  Keglunek, a wonderful artist who deserves your attention and love. Registration should be up in a next few weeks.

As for the hotel, the room block is now open. Regular rooms at our rate will be $99 a night for either two queens or one king. You can use the link below to reserve online, using the code FUR to get the correct rate. We're still working with them to get a special rate for Suites. If you prefer to reserve over the phone, mention that you are with Furry Fiesta 2014 to get the room rate.

http://www.ihg.com/hotels/us/en/dal.....?groupCode=fur

The hotel itself has a number of great features, such as a coffee shop in the lobby that serves Starbucks. The hotel restaurant is quite good for food though a bit pricy. Friday nights they generally have $20 all you can eat Prime Rib (and other stuff that I didn't notice), though we still need to confirm whether that particular deal will be offered during the convention.

The hotel had originally been built to be a casino when it was looking likely that Texas would legalize gambling, so the place still has that grandeur expected of an upscale casino.

I hope you all consider attending this next Furry Fiesta. We are hoping that it is our best year ever and we hope everyone has an amazing con. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to ask me directly, or post on the Furry Fiesta forums at https://forum.furryfiesta.org/

Myriad Song is a Furry Sci-Fi Tabletop RPG in the vein of Traveller or Star Wars. A galactic empire, which controlled uncountable worlds and species, has vanished, leaving those controlled to survive without them. What happened to them? And how with the people of the galaxy survive in their sudden absence.

This RPG is in production now, but they need your help. Made by Sanguine Games, this RPG is based on a potent gaming system which works so well in Ironclaw. There is a kickstarter to help this system get off the ground, but it only has 22 hours left. This team that produces some of the highest quality RPGs on the market today and they deserve more attention than they get.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....p-rpg-of-10000

So, I'm going to be attending a convention this weekend. It's called Texicon and it is a board game/tabletop/war gaming convention held in downtown Fort Worth. http://texicon.net/index.html

For the full weekend, it's $50 (cash only at the door) or $30 for a single day. It's a bit pricey for a convention, but gaming conventions are likely a bit more expensive to run than most.

I plan to be there Saturday and Sunday. This is a bit of a last minute thing for me. It sounds like it'll be a blast. I haven't been to a gaming convention in years, but I love sitting down at a table and playing a game I've never heard of before. I get to meet new people, I get to play new games, I get to have new adventures and I get to tell more stories. Many of my cherished gaming stories come from conventions.

I'm going to primarily live in the Tabletop room, but they have dozens of games of all sorts going on at all times it seems. There's a lot of fun to be had. Anyone else going?

I've spoken before about Ironclaw, which I regard as one of the finest tabletop RPGs ever created. The company behind this, Sanguine, is currently wants to release a new RPG known as Myriad Song. This will be a sci-fi game. A galaxy spanning empire once ruled with an iron fist, controlling known space. No force could stand before them and no race escaped it's touch. Then, a century ago, it vanished without a trace. Those races under it's banner found themselves suddenly free. Some would say that they remain and would press their will on others in the name of this lost empire. Many others broke away. Technology thrives on some worlds and yet has collapsed on others. Some worlds found themselves in a golden age, while others are broken wastelands. It is in this setting that heroes may rise, villains will scheme, and many will simply try to survive. Will you join your voice to the Myriad Song?

I do like the premise, though it may feel a bit broken and disjointed. I'm quite happy with Sanguine's other projects and I'm willing to risk this one. It has been indicated that it will use a similar system to Ironclaw. This project is currently on Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....p-rpg-of-10000

As of the time of this post, there are 18 days left on the project, but it seems to be a very small project at the moment. If you are interested, I urge you to back this project and/or to spread the word to others. Help make Myriad Song the best RPG it can be.

So, I was lucky enough to attend FWA this year. It was a great con. This was the second year I've attended and their first year in the Westin.

Thursday I drove in with  Stargazer79. It was about a 12 hour trip. This is where we encountered our first problem with the hotel. I've got a big old pickup truck. I pulled into the self-parking garage, which was tiny and 10 floors. I reached the top only to discover it was completely full, then had to drive all the way back down. It was not pleasant. We then had to find a parking garage nearby. Considering it was almost midnight by this point, it was exhausting and frustrating.

Friday, I wore my Explorer outfit. My new pith helmet isn't nearly as good as my old one, so I may switch back. I quite enjoyed that FWA had built almost life sized displays of the fennec and rabbit which was animated to kiss. I was mildly disappointed in the God Level gift. It's a duffel bag embroidered with FWA. While it's decent quality, I don't think it stacks up to their gifts from previous years like the Beer Stein or Pocket Watch. It's a decent enough bag, but just a bit lackluster. The poster on the other hand is fantastic. I'm definitely going to frame it.

I met up with  Piston and  TristWolf, who are always fun to hang out with. I quite enjoyed meeting up with  rocroldis again, who I haven't seen in quite a while. Further, I was able to see a host of friends I knew from South Carolina, such as  Celyn,  CubBruin,  TheDK,  HungRider, and more. It was also a blast chatting with  AnimeCat,  Nut-Case and  Funshade.

Friday was mostly spent wandering around and enjoying the con as well as hanging out with friends. That evening was the god level dinner. As with almost every year, we went to Fogo De Chao, AKA The Meat Faucet. If you've never been, it's expensive, but they serve some absolutely amazing meat. Each person has a little card. When the card is red, nothing happens. When the card is red, the servers who constantly circle with meat descent upon you, asking if you want whatever it is they are serving. And it's all good. I've heard they have a good salad bar, but I wouldn't know anything about that. Because endless meat. Afterwards, we had a game of Small World, an absolutely wonderful board game. This is where I met Thomas Ivan and his hat with the eyes on it and a few others.

Saturday was far more relaxed. Breakfast was a foraging session in the God Level con suite. That really is a nice touch, having a slightly nicer, quieter con suite for god level members. Much of this day was spent hanging out with friends. As today was the day of the St. Patrick's parade, we waited for that to finish before we went to get food at the food court of the local mall down the road. The mall cops looked confused at the various furries.

After lunch we broke out Descent. RRD ran this game and we, the players, ran roughshod through the dungeon, crushing everything before us. It didn't end well for the monsters. But then, we had two veteran players and it was one of the easier adventures. Next time, I doubt it will be so easy. For those of you who don't know, Descent: Journies in the Dark is an adventure board game. One player plays the dungeon master with two to four other players controlling various adventurers. It usually takes 4 hours for a game, so it's not a simple party game, but it's a lot of fun. It's very much a D&D dungeon crawl as a board game. There are actually campaign rules for this game. I want to run a campaign.

Saturday evening, a group of us went to a local Mediterranean restaurant, Truva. We were split between two tables, but RRD, Stargazer, Piston, and Trist were at my table. I had some amazing salmon and we had a great time. Piston even got the personal attention of the belly dancer, which she loved. -hides from Piston-

I had planned to wear my Satyr legs after lunch sometime, having just worn the outfit with black trousers earlier in the day. However, because of the elevator issues, I just never ended up wearing them. As for the elevators, this was one of the biggest complaints most had with the new hotel. I didn't have too much of an issue with them. If you can avoid the elevators at peak times, it's not an issue, but those that suffered the most were fursuiters. Interestingly, I found that it was much easier to get to rooms above 45 than it was to get to the lower floors, due to the elevator setup. I had a room on the 58th floor and the view was spectacular.

Sunday, I wore my Chrononaut outfit. I finally got my talons on a side-button shirt in my size, which really made the outfit look better. Once more, breakfast and lunch were forage sessions at the god level con suite. This day was mostly spent relaxing. I spent much time in the game room, hanging with friends. I spent more money in the Dealer's Den as well. We played another game of Small World, which I was able to sweep. We had five players. I pulled Heroic Sorcerers, which were good enough, but the first player had Diplomatic Pixies, so there were lots of things to convert. When my Sorcerers were finally played out, I brought in Commando Ratman. It was a good game. :)

My biggest problem with Sunday was that everything shut down at 5PM. I understand de-staffing the game room at that time, but the room should have been open. This left the only real space to gather as the lobby, which rapidly killed the remaining energy of the con. A small group of us hit Hsu's a really good Chinese place down the street. It's a bit pricy, but it's fancy Chinese food, which is really rare. Afterwards, I spent my time hanging out in the lobby, chatting with a number of people including AnimeCat. I ended up roosting a bit earlier that evening, as I had to drive 12 hours the following day.

It was a good con and I plan to go back next year. I just hope some of the issues are smoothed out.

My acquisitions of note for the con: The bondage badge that's been posted already. A sketch from Nut-Case that hasn't been posted yet but will be soon. A Bad Dragon toy (Clayton, Small, Medium firmness, Yay ridges). A Hippocampus toy from Exotic-Erotics. A beer glass with the FWA 2013 logo on it. The FWA 2011 shot glass. The FWA 2013 God Level bag.

So, I'm headed to FWA soon, so I figured it's time to do the standard meme. It'll be a nice vacation after Furry Fiesta. :)

How to get in touch with me at con?
I'll be wandering around quite a bit. Look for a tall gryphon in a Steampunk outfit.

-Hotel?
Staying at the con hotel, the Westin.

-Arrival/Departure?
Headed in Thursday, leaving Monday.

-Means of transportation?
Driving.

-Sharing a room with?
 StarGazer79

-Relationship Status?
Opening stages of a relationship

-How old are you?
30

-How tall are you?
6'4"

-Are you an Artist?
No.

-Who do you hang out with?
StarGazer,  Piston,  Tristwolf, and a bunch of furs from South Carolina. :)

-Hoping to really meet?
All my friends that are going and that I don't get to see often enough.

-Attending parties?
Unlikely.

-Going anywhere aside from the con?
Unlikely.

-Do you drink?
Almost never.

-Can I buy you a drink?
No.

-Can I give you food?
Ask first.

-Are you attending any panels?
What's a paladin?

-Are you a Fursuiter and what Fursuits are you bringing?
Not a fursuit, but I will be wearing my Satyr outfit at least some of the time.

-Stage or public performance?
No.

-How do I identify my self to you?
A direct greeting, handshake, or hug. I'm fairly reserved, so nothing more until I'm comfortable.

-Rules of engagement (physical contact)?
Simple physical contact is acceptable. Hugs are acceptable. Anything more, explicitly ask and don't be surprised or offended if I decline.

-Can I talk to you?
Absolutely.

-How do I know if you're not looking to socialize (angry, busy or upset)?
I'll casually brush you off. Nothing personal. :)

-Personality Type?
Stoic and reserved

Can I look in your sketchbook?
Don't have one.

Can I draw in your sketchbook?
I would be impressed if you manage it. ;)

Can I take your picture?
Nothing I say here will change whether or not you do. ;)

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
To have fun and relax after TFF.

Now that Furry Fiesta is behind me and Furry Weekend Atlanta is imminent, I'm starting to plan out the rest of my year. Since I don't plan to return to MFM, I'm looking for a new con to attend. Two conventions of note have caught my interest.

RainFurrest is a Seattle based convention held September 27-30. It's one of the larger conventions, with around 1700 attendees last year. I've heard good things about the con. While I've never been to RF, my first furry convention was it's predecessor, Conifur. Seattle itself is beautiful. If I can manage it, I wouldn't mind visiting old friends on the other side of the state during the same time. That said, it is just too far to drive, meaning I would have to fly and rent a vehicle. That drives costs up enormously.

Rocky Mountain Fur Con is a convention held in Denver during 2-4 August. It's a bit smaller, with about 850 attendees last year. I also hear good things about this con. It's growing steadily. Further, I have a lot of family in the area, so I could visit them. On the other paw, how do I explain what I'm doing when I'm not with family? Regardless, this is a con I could drive to. It's only about 12 hours. And the mountains around Denver are beautiful. It's definitely one to consider.

The biggest problem, of course, is I don't know who would be going to which cons. While I can go to a con without any friends and have a good time, it's always better when you know people. And it's nice to have a room with someone to defray costs.

So, have any of you been to these cons before? What did you think? Are you going this year? I'm curious to know what you guys think of these two options. Is there another con I should consider instead? If so, why is that con better than these two?

So, Furry Fiesta has passed for another year. This was a very chaotic, but good year for me. This was the first year I was Head of Security. This was a major responsibility and I'd been working for months to ensure that it worked smoothly. There were many security issues and events that I ran into, many of which I can't talk about, but I will share what I feel appropriate.

Note: My weekend was so chaotic and exhausting that I've forgotten much of it. I saw dozens of people I was thrilled to see again, but if I forget to mention you here, I apologize. It's all starting to blur together. :)

My con actually started Wednesday. I was able to meet up with  Dook and  Rahata who had just arrived from Arkansas. We hung out for a little while, showing each other amusing videos online and chatting. We then headed to one of my favorite restaurants of all time, Bavarian Grill where we met up with  StarGazer79 and briefly with  Khyle. Yay Schnitzel. I had to leave quickly, however, because I had to attend a final staff meeting just to try to iron out the remaining details. Last minute fires were put out and we generally began to prepare for the chaos to come.

Thursday, I spent the morning preparing and resting. I picked up  ArcNova at noon, who flew in from Idaho and stayed with me for the duration of the convention. I had to rush to the hotel for the final meeting with the hotel staff. After the meeting ArcNova and I hit a local BBQ place calls Spring Creek BBQ which is decent. I then grabbed my badge and began to say hi to the arriving fuzzies.  Piston and  Tristwolf arrived fairly early on Thursday and it's always a pleasure seeing them. This is when Trist handed me a collar that will become important later. This was a fairly sedate day, with most people eager for the con to start. I mostly played crowd control and made sure things didn't get out of paw. There was a delay for registration (there always is) due to technical issues. Once solved, I stayed for a little while but left early to grab food at ... Spring Creek BBQ with a number of furs, then it was off to roost.

Friday was my first full day of Security. I was on shift starting at 0600, when most people weren't awake. I debuted my new outfit, the Steampunk Sheriff, which I would wear all con. It's easy to replace everything but the coat and hat, yet still maintain the same outfit with different shirt and vest and identical pants, so it became my uniform. Since I had stayed at home, I left ArcNova to sleep while I began my work. This is when I found out that our Night Shift Head of Security  Aliciadragon had become far too ill to function and had been sent home. The Night Shift lieutenant  Jerynn was forced to take over those duties and did a fantastic job stepping up and taking on that responsibility. The night had been relatively quiet. The morning started out quiet, mostly dealing with people trying to sleep in the common areas because they didn't have a room yet. I tried to be a bright and cheerful as possible, both because it's important for security to be as friendly as possible and because I was genuinely hoping everyone had the best con possible.  Silvermane2010 was one of the first people I got to see again, since he is up and about early. I took a short break to pick up the now conscious ArcNova and breakfast as McDonalds (yay?) before it was back to the growing chaos. When dealer's den opened, I was able to break away to pick up my new badge from  AnimeCat, which is wonderful and already posted.

Friday at noon was Opening Ceremonies, where I was on stage for the first time. It's been posted on YouTube several times I'm sure if you want to see it. We announced that this was our last year at the wonderful Crowne Plaza hotel. It's sad to see the hotel go because it's a great hotel and the staff are wonderful. But, we ran simply ran out of room and it was pretty clear that things like the Dealer's Den and Artist Alley were cramped. One segment of note was the standard 'Fursuit Etiquette' section where we brought up Piston and Trist from demonstration. At the end of this, we had Piston turn around. I quickly handed Trist the collar he had slipped to me, then handed him a big sign I had made that said 'Will You Marry Me?'. She turned around, was stunned, hugged him close and nodded yes. It was great and romantic and awesome. They make a cute couple. The rest of Friday is mostly a blur. I dealt with a number of security issues of varying magnitudes. I finally headed off shift after handing the burden to Jerynn shortly after 1800. I stayed around briefly to hang out, but frankly I was exhausted. Everyone already seemed to have dinner plans, so I just grabbed Wendy's and picked up clothes and toiletries for the rest of the con, then collapsed.

Saturday, it was an early start again. I was up and on shift at 0600. Jerynn had the whole night shift again. He brought me up to speed on a number of things that had happened. I began my patrol, taking inappropriate things down from the message board, waking sleepers up, encouraging the last few drunks to seek a bed, and the general security stuff. After a couple hours, when things were still pretty slow, I grabbed the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Sometime during the morning, my phone disappeared. It was called several times and I would check the various Lost and Founds (hotel and con), but it never turned up and was presumed stolen. This made contacting me very difficult except by radio. If you called or texted me at all between Saturday and Tuesday, I was not ignoring you, I simply never got it.

I was fairly busy Saturday. The majority of incidents happened on that day, including all of the major ones, which I won't talk about here. I only had a pawful of volunteers that day and no lieutenant, so I barely had time to rest. I did have the chance to briefly chat with a bunch of my friends. The big announcement Saturday was that next year, the hotel will be the Hotel Intercontinental, which is an amazing place we are terribly excited about. When my shift finally ended after 1800, the adorable  ConfusedOo (AKA Buck, who I had recently started dating) kidnapped me. He finally got me to eat a second meal at Gengis Grill, where we were not the only furries present. Afterwards, he gave me a nice massage, then brief snuggles, before I lapsed into unconsciousness.

Sunday, things began to wind down. I was on shift at my usual time. Jerynn had sent Alicia home early because, while she was recovering, she tends to overextend herself. It was a slow morning. I grabbed the breakfast buffet again, this time with Silvermane who was also bright eyed and bushy tailed. Most people had crashed hard the previous night or earlier that morning so only a couple zombie furs were moving about. I tried to hit a mobile store to report my phone missing and get a new one, but they were closed until 1100, so I wasn't able to. That said, things began to ramp up again as everyone began to enjoy their last hours of this year's Furry Fiesta. I was able to spend some time chatting with Derek from C.A.R.E., which is our charity. He is a great guy who spends a lot of time and effort taking care of big cats after they are rescued. I didn't have much time to do anything but patrol, given that I had no lieutenant and volunteers were scarce.

At 1800, I was on stage for Closing Ceremonies. We announced our attendance was 1492. We had raised over $11500 for CARE. For those of you who don't know, CARE doesn't get a dime from the government. We raised 11% of their yearly operating budget, meaning we are one of their largest doners and our money directly goes to the care and feeding of these animals. Your donations, even small ones, are important. If you ever want to go to CARE, let them know in advance that you were from Furry Fiesta and they will be thrilled to help show you around. Closing Ceremonies ran far longer than it should have and I stayed for the Scritch and Bitch. This event ended almost at 2100. I went with Buck, StarGazer,  Teiran, ArcNova, and other furs to BJ's for dinner (lunch for me). I headed home exhausted, done with security for this year.

Monday, I woke up bright and early as usual. I headed to the hotel to see the last bit of the con. Ran into a bunch of furs with whom I spent far too little time. I ordered a new phone, which should be here soon. Went to a nice Italian place for lunch with Buck, Teiran, ArcNova, and others.

All in all it was a good year. The fifth Furry Fiesta has drawn to a close. It is bigger than ever but still a great con. Next year will be exciting for the new hotel, but sad to leave the old hotel and staff. This was my first year ever as Staff and Head of Security, but I think it went well. I'm already looking forward to next year and I hope I can improve how Security operates.