It's been forever since I wrote a journal. In fact, last one was right after EF25, which was way back in 2019.

Man, times sure have changed since then, eh? Anyway, my boyfriend and I registered for the convention, so we'll be there!
I wasn't sure I was gonna commit to this year's con, but a couple of our friends are going and, frankly, it'll have been three years since I got to hang out with furries at an event by then and I just really need that kind of thing in my life again after so long.

We sadly didn't get a room at the Estrel, but with prices having gone absolutely sky high this year (€180 per room, up from €120 last time), I was probably going to stay at another hotel even if I did get lucky in the proverbial room lottery.
So instead we'll be calling Vienna House Easy Berlin our home for six days!

There's a slim chance I might actually finish two partial suits for myself and the bf, but that'll depend a little bit on motivation on my part. I haven't worked on the suits since the Before Times.
I'll probably have to relearn how to sew.

For his suit I've got the handpaws, armsleeves and tail complete (though I need to make a smaller one). I still need to do the head, which is by far the most time consuming part.

For my own suit I only have the handpaws and tail done. Still need armsleeves, head and footpaws. So that's a LOT of work for someone who's never made a suit before haha.

I hope to complete both, but even if I don't you'll recognize my purple fuzzy self easily enough I think. I've got badges I can finally put to use again!

Hey guys. I generally write a quick recap of my EF experience every year and I'm a little late to the party.

This year's EF was absolutely fantastic. In addition to  scruffly, two of my international friends also joined in on the fun. Shoutouts to  jindall and  tywolfeee. Even  sonatahusky and  grawberry made an appearance on Saturday and Sunday.

It's my first time at a convention with a crew and it's so much better if you have some friends to go with. In addition to that, I also met lots of cool new folks and had a few catch-up chats with my roommates from previous years. All in all it was about as close to perfect as can be.

The only real problem is that my desire to finally get a fursuit is getting overwhelming. After 3 years, I really do want to take the plunge. It'll just require some dedication and I need to make some sacrifices to be able to afford it. But I think it's gonna be worth it. See, I had several opportunities to try fursuiting this EF and I think I spent a total of about 6-7 hours in my friend's partial. And it was some of the most fun I've ever had, even though it was hot and sweaty. XD

But that's a story for another time.

See you all next year! :3

Howdy fuzzy folks!

I got back from my second Eurofurence last night, and I had a fantastic time. I'm not gonna write a long-winded story like I did last year, but this year was even better than last year. One thing I remember writing was that I kinda wished I had more people to hang out with during the convention. Well, I made new friends between EF23 and EF24, and I was very fortunate to have them around this time. So thanks to  grawberry and  sonatahusky for making this such a fantastic convention!

It made the whole experience a lot more memorable. I was also a little less shy about asking fursuiters for hugs, though I intend to do even better next year!

One final shoutout to my roommate  vvolfsong without whom I would not have had a place to stay in the main hotel. :3

Hey folks!

So with 2018 in full swing, here's my plans for roughly the next year or so.

- Eurofurence in August. Didn't get a room at the Estrel, but gonna go anyway. Was fun last year, and I hope to have fun again this year!
- Texas Furry Fiesta in 2019. I was gonna go to MFF, but the timing for that doesn't work out this year. But I've got a few online friends who are going to TFF, so that should be lots of fun since I'll finally get to meet them in person.
- BLFC 2019 (tentative). I fully intend to go, but it'll depend on finances. Flying across the Atlantic ain't cheap. I should be able to make it, but you never know what life throws at you.

Other than that, I've been grinding art fundamentals like crazy. Not a whole lot of furry stuff, though, which is why my FA gallery is still kinda empty. But I post my art journey on my Twitter: https://twitter.com/SilverSabrewulf

Gonna keep practicing fundamental stuff for a couple more months. But I want to create my own Telegram sticker set by the end of this year. And just maybe I'll be comfortable taking some commissions sometime in 2019. :)

2017 was a weird year for me. I felt really stagnant during the first half of it. But in the weeks and months after Eurofurence, I started making some changes that will carry over into the new year.

1. I joined a weekly art class that lasts 35 weeks. It started in September and will continue until May this year. That'll help a lot with motivation to keep drawing and practicing.

2. I started a habit of drawing daily. Right now I'm working on a big perspective course, but once that's done in a few weeks, I'm going to seriously study human anatomy with Proko's course. Putting the anthro in anthropomorphic! That'll take months, but the plan is to move on to properly learning digital painting in Photoshop after that. Right now I'm mostly just messing around on my iPad Pro if I do digital art.

3. Started therapy to get my anxiety and depression under control. That also started in September. I'm starting to notice quite a few improvements now. The main habit for me is to write down 5 things I enjoyed every single day. Helps me think positively.

4. And of course I got involved in this whole furry thing! Eurofurence was a blast. And I'm going to return this August. Additionally, I will almost certainly go to MFF as well.

I'm going to try my darnedest to make 2018 an awesome year, regardless of what life throws at me. :)

I've known about the furry fandom for well over a decade. I've sort considered myself a furry for a few years. And there have been signs that I was a furry all throughout my early childhood. But I didn't actually start becoming actively involved in the fandom until... *checks FA account* ... roughly November last year. Until then I mostly just lurked and browsed art.

So what on that fateful day in November made this 31-year-old dude decide to jump in the deep end? I don't really know. I guess it just started bubbling inside and at some point it burst, and I decided "hey, let's go to the biggest convention in Europe, even though I have no friends in the fandom yet!"

And I'm glad I did. Registered on the day registration opened. Managed to survive the whole "Laden" debacle and get a hotel room in the convention venue, the beautiful Estrel Hotel in Berlin. All I had to do now was play the waiting game until August. I got more and more excited as time went on, but I was also a little worried since I didn't really have friends in the fandom on my side of the Atlantic. And none of my US buddies were going.

Turns out those worries were mostly unfounded. I met a few people to hang out with at the convention, and there were plenty of panels and events to attend. And most of them were really awesome. I was afraid I would lock myself up in my hotel room a lot, but I barely ended up doing that at all. My favorite events were the Fox & Pepper concerts (those guys are awesome live) and the Pawpet Show. They built an INCREDIBLE dragon puppet (which was one of the main characters), and I was just astounded by the sheer amount of work and passion that went into the whole thing. Look for lots of fanart for “Ortha” in the days, weeks and months ahead!

I also attended the fursuit dance competition. Look for it on YouTube. It's well worth a watch, specifically Dexter, the one who ended up winning the competition.

I'm already 99% certain that I want to go back next year.

The only thing I feel I really need to do is make sure I know some more people here at the convention, mostly so I have people to hang out with or talk to. There were a few times where I felt like I was just kind of "there", not really doing anything but wait for some event to start. So, in short: make more friends!

I got some cool merchandise from the Dealers Den as well, and I got a few fursuit hugs as well. That was an interesting experience. One I could very much get used to. I think I finally understand now why people wear those extremely expensive costumes. Oh, and did I mention I got to be on the big stage during the finals of the fursuit gameshow? Just as a crowd volunteer, mind you, but it was still fun!

My final takeaway from the past six days is this: I am so goddamn inspired to become better at art. I saw so much incredible talent on display everywhere. On the banners, in the Dealers Den, on stage, at the art show/auction. I want to get that good myself someday!

As I'm typing this, it's Sunday morning and people are slowly preparing to leave. EF staff are starting to break down the stages, taking down the artwork, etc. There's a certain bitter-sweetness in the air. I think it's best summed up with the words I heard someone say in passing just now: "Can it be yesterday again?"

Addendum: writing a little extra from Berlin Ostbahnhof since I have an hour to kill before my train departs. I caught some of the people I met in the lobby around noon, and I sat with them and talked for another two hours before I had to face Berlin's public transport system again. It's those moments that I felt were lacking in my EF experience. Those times where you're just chilling with a few people, having a chat and some laughs, possibly over drinks. This con needed more of that. So, again, need to forge some more friendships before the next one. :)

Still, all that said, I'd rate my con experience a solid 8/10, though I'd give the actual convention itself a 9/10 easily. Well run. Super friendly atmosphere. Great venue. Awesome events. Sitting here by myself at a train station, I couldn't help but feel a little melancholy as I took off my EF lanyard. It felt like I was taking off a part of myself that I didn't know was there before. I'll take that as a sign that I really enjoyed myself.

I guess I now fully understand the meaning of Fox and Pepper's song “See You Next Year”!