Just a quick note to mention that I had to cancel my Furfright plans due to some unforeseen problems, so I will not be at the convention as I'd hoped.

Job search continues, but at this point, I do not expect to find work before 2014. The interview process for mid- to senior-level jobs is usually fairly lengthy and I'm looking at relocation, so I expect a 2+ month lead time. I am still looking into seasonal work to tide me over.

It's been a rather bleak couple of weeks. Please forgive my absence from this site, as well as from my IMs and Twitter accounts; I really just don't feel up to talking much these days.

Just a brief update to keep everyone in the loop.

I don't have any news on my job search, but work on that is continuing. I've had a number of interviews and continue to apply to promising positions. Most of what I have found is on the west coast in California or Washington, so it looks like I will relocate out west eventually, but I've learned not to count on anything until it's set in stone. As before, if anyone can use an IT Manager in the gaming or film industries, please send me a note. I'm still feeling positive and I hope to have good news soon.

I do plan to attend Furfright. It's nearby and my finances should allow for the trip, so I'm greatly looking forward to seeing everyone there!

I have unfortunately not been as active on this site, nor have I been logging in very much to my IM accounts. Nothing is wrong, but I am trying to focus as much as I can on my job search and on some technical training to shore up my skills.

And when cash isn't so scarce, I definitely need to commission some character model sheets.

That's it for now. Is anyone else going to Furfright? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know so I can keep an eye out for you!

Onward and upward.

Though I don't have any big news yet, I wanted to post a brief update as Summer winds down.

My job search is going full bore and I've had a handful of phone interviews for a rather promising position. I'm trying to cultivate multiple options, so I continue to search high and low for as many jobs as I qualify for at my career level with a focus on gaming. There is not much out there, but I'm also doing some training/review on my technical skills to broaden my base of prospective work, so that may open some additional doors. I hope to have some good news to share before September is over. Regardless of what company I end up with, it's looking like I will be on the west coast, though.

I'll also mention that I'm now on Twitter. I try to keep the signal to noise ratio high on my feed. Find me SobaTheBear .

I hope to post some good news before the month is out. :)

Just a brief update to say that all is well. With a shiny new, professionally written résumé in hand, I am now once again actively looking for work as an IT Director.

But I can't do this alone.

I am already getting in touch with numerous recruiters who specialize in the games or animation industries, as that's where much of my recent experience has been. But if anyone reading this can put me in touch with helpful contacts for finding work in those industries - and I intend to relocate, so it doesn't really matter where the job is - I would be immensely grateful.

I can provide links to my LinkedIn profile as well as my résumé, but I will not do so publicly, so please send me a private message via Note or email at SobaTheBear@gmail.com. (But please do not share this email address with any professional contact, lest I have some uncomfortable explaining to do. :)

Thanks, everyone! I look forward to sharing good news when I am once again gainfully employed!

As of midnight Monday, I am back safely at home. I had an absolutely wonderful time at Anthrocon and am thrilled that I was able to go!

The convention was a remarkable recharge for me and so many friends wished me good luck and offered to help share my résumé that I lost count. None other than Larry Dixon himself insisted that I write to him so he could pass my work history along to some people he thought might be interested.

I can't possibly list everyone with whom I spent time, but to highlight the artsy part of my experience, the impromptu concerts by  foxamoore (reconnecting with him was wonderful; we chatted often years ago, but fell out of touch),  rhubarbthebear, and  cosmik were rather incredible. I spent some of my eBay auction proceeds on con swag, but I didn't go overboard.  ishaway drew a deliberately ludicrous request of a bear astronaut somehow eating donuts in orbit in zero gravity while  unknownwolf drew himself as a cookie and  crux drew our characters eating soft pretzels.

 alectorfencer and  stormfire did beautiful drawings for me in my sketchbook that were somehow NOT food related, so it seems I don't quite have a one-track mind. Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon merrily signed a number of books for me after I told them that in all honesty I had never read any of their work (and added that I was now greatly looking forward to it). And a local art student was doing inked character drawings at the Toonseum on Monday for the ridiculous price of $5, so I tipped her.

For the first time in a decade of con-going, I had to call security on our neighbors because they were absurdly loud. And I learned that it is indeed possible to have one's toilet back up and overflow thanks to a clog in a neighboring room. Twice. (Don't ask...)

A truly memorable and wonderful time with countless friends, some of whom I met for the first time. I'll be restarting my job search in short order and I look forward to sharing good news. Everyone is pulling for me, so I can't help but to succeed.

Onward and upward.

Despite telling everyone not to give me gifts, I received a handful of really wonderful presents for my birthday on Tuesday. The artwork I received is currently at the top of my favorites gallery, so please have a look at the artists' galleries, as they're all terrific people who are eminently worthy of your attention! I also received a pile of wonderful birthday greetings and gifts via other means, and I can't even being to express how grateful and humbled I am that people think so well of me. "Thank you" does not even begin to express my feelings, though I've uttered those words an awful lot this week.

Also, despite not being interested in macro,  kingdead seems to have started a trend. Payback shall be sweet... :P

Thanks to a generous birthday gift from my parents coupled with a round of very successful eBay auctions, Anthrocon is a go, and it will be a worry-free experience for me. I will be at the con beginning midday Wednesday and will head home on Monday evening.

It looks like I have a room for all nights I am in Pittsburgh, so all is well. See everyone there!

I received so much support after my previous rather gloomy journal entry that I ended up feeling bad about worrying everyone and thought that I should provide an update. I honestly don't like posting a lot of personal information in a public place like this, but so many people have been so concerned about me for a number of months that I don't like leaving everyone in the dark. I will start by saying that things are finally beginning to look up a little bit.

Even though I am cash strapped, I expect to be at Anthrocon. I long ago spent a fair amount of money toward the convention that I cannot get back, so staying home seems silly. Seeing a lot of friends will be a great lift to my spirits, and that's worth quite a lot. I continue to raise cash for bills through eBay and Craigslist, so unless my sales numbers plummet in the next two weeks, I should have enough cash to cover the convention and the expenses waiting for me when I return home. I am hoping for a big enough cash cushion that I can enjoy the trip relatively worry free!

My 34th birthday is on June 25. I was really overwhelmed with the attention and gifts everyone showered me with here last year, and it was truly heartwarming. (And about a week ago,  iceylynx drove all the way here just to see how I was doing, and he very graciously treated me to a rather lavish early birthday dinner!) But instead of gifts, what I really want for my birthday is just for everyone to continue to support me and make sure I keep my chin up. Beyond that, there is something very important that I'm sure a lot of people on this site can assist me with, which I will explain now.

Early this year, it became obvious that my résumé was simply not working. I was not receiving responses to my job applications, so I hired a professional résumé writer to help me completely overhaul my job application materials. When I decided to return to graduate school for my Master's degree, I put the résumé rewrite on hold, but after my education plans collapsed last month, I immediately contacted her to restart the process. We've been working steadily on it for several weeks and I expect everything to be complete by the end of June, at which point I am going to restart my job search.

Which is where I need help. I have been planning to relocate for work anyway (even internationally, if the right opportunity arose), so I intend to focus my job search on the game and animation/entertainment industries, since the bulk of my recent experience and most of my personal and professional interests lie in those areas. Considering the users of this site, I can't think of a better place to search for industry contacts. I can't do anything immediately because my résumé is not ready; I will post another journal when everything is in place, at which point I will invite people who think they can help to contact me privately so that I can provide them with my work history.

I can't do anything immediately, but it would be the best birthday gift ever if you could help a mid- to senior-level IT Director find work. I'll have more to say about this later. If I'm going to climb out of this pit, I'm definitely going to need help.

Thanks, everyone. I'm really looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces in Pittsburgh on the 4th of July weekend. It always makes me smile.

I had wanted to share some happy news, but the expected good news went bad very quickly in the last two days.

I was planning to return to school to restart my Master's degree in the Autumn and get a fresh start on a career change. I intended to pay for this using a combination of scholarships, academic loans, and an assistantship within the department that would have granted me large tuition breaks and a stipend.

Unfortunately, it hasn't worked out that way. I was awarded one scholarship by the school, but was unable to secure more from any sources I investigated. As for the assistantship, I was given the impression by the Program Director that I was a shoo-in, but it turns out that I was not even considered for either of the positions for which I applied. That leaves loans - and considering the expense of attending this school, plus living expenses, the amount I would need to borrow in the absence of large scholarships and tuition breaks is dangerously high and would put me in a very precarious position both during my education and afterwards; I cannot safely borrow that much money or I risk being unable to service the debt when I graduate. Considering that I'm already dealing with debt issues now because of a LENGTHY period of partial employment, this qualifies as an Incredibly Stupid Idea.

So, despite spending most of the last 2 months working on this and expecting to return to school in the Autumn to start over, it all came crashing down this week when I was informed that I would not receive any real financial aid. It is impossible to see this through.

I had planned to move to a new apartment before June 1st, but now I have to cancel that and may lose my deposit.

I am running out of ideas. This was already Plan C, and I didn't have a Plan D. The amount of money that I now owe is staggering and I am in very real danger of defaulting.

I am waiting to hear back on a couple of short-term Summer jobs, but I am not getting my hopes up, and in any case, they will not solve the larger problem. My only option at this point is to restart my full-time job hunt and try to land another position as an IT Director, which is a job I thoroughly dislike, but it seems I am locked in that prison for the foreseeable future. And this assumes that I can even find work with my dated skill sets and a work history that has a hole large enough to drive a truck through. The economy has improved marginally, so perhaps I'll have better luck this time.

On the heels of utterly devastating personal problems around the beginning of the year, mounting debt during the Winter, and now a false start with graduate school, I have been pretty thoroughly ground into dust.

I am in trouble. I don't find myself smiling very much these days.

I had a wonderful time at FurThe'More and I made it home safely! It was great seeing so many friends, and I was very happy to meet a handful of new people. I spent the majority of my time just socializing.

FurThe'More was a terrific convention, especially considering it was a first-year event! The hotel is great for a con; there's a good amount of event space, lots of guest rooms, and only 3 floors, so it's seldom even necessary to use the elevators. I will definitely be back next year if I'm able to go.

I made a brief stop in Arlington National Cemetery to visit Steve's gravesite, once again. I was not sure when I'd have another opportunity, so I wanted to be sure to stop by, as it had been 4 years since the last time.

My short visit to  artie went just fine, and he very generously loaded up my car with a bunch of stuff I will be selling on eBay. That will help keep the wolves from the door for another month or two. I was not able to see his brother while I was there (another friend from the old days on IRC), but perhaps next time.

My drive home went ridiculously late, as I left Virginia at 6:30PM and stumbled into my apartment around 2:15 this morning. I was so tired that I really should not have been driving, so after a hot shower, I collapsed into bed and was asleep in less than 10 seconds.

My next convention will be Anthrocon in early July. Unfortunately, that may be my last con for the year, but we'll see how things go.

I'm in reasonably high spirits overall and things are beginning to look up a bit. More updates soon!

I will indeed be at FurtheMore in Baltimore this weekend, with many thanks to  IndigoAngelCat for finding me space in her room! See you all there. :)

Assuming all goes according to plan, on Monday I will be visiting Arlington National Cemetery and then  Artie before returning home.

I should have some important (and positive) news later this month.

I need to meet with someone in eastern Virginia for non-fandom related reasons, so it seemed a fine idea to visit the new Fur The More convention in Baltimore as long as I am in the neighborhood. I will most likely arrive Thursday and leave Monday.

The only issue is that I have no room to call my own, so I'm hoping to find a quiet room with nice roomies; I need to have a bed to sleep in, as the floor just won't do.

I'd prefer to room with someone I know fairly well, but I'd be glad to consider a friend of a friend as long as they're trusted. I'm looking for non-smokers (I'm sensitive to the smell, unfortunately :-/ ) and there are to be absolutely no drugs. Alcohol is fine, but I generally don't imbibe, myself.

Can anyone help me out, or refer me to someone who is looking for a clean, extremely quiet roomie?

I hope that everyone who celebrates Easter enjoys the holiday! I expect to have some significant news to share in the next week or two.

In a word, wow. I am so very glad that I decided to go to Furnal Equinox, as it lifted my spirits immensely. I was considering staying home as late as Friday morning, but  ivybeth convinced me to make the drive to Canada. I suspected she would have flown to New York to eviscerate me had I stayed home, so I decided to go.

I knew I'd have a good time there, but I didn't expect it to have such an impact on my mood. Never underestimate the power of friends.

 arius and  xthedogx were hospitable to say the least and even bought me a steak dinner on Saturday!  catmonkshiro,  danraccoon,  airguitar,  amoryllis, and many others all banded together for our annual Saturday dinner at the Mandarin buffet. As I'd had a large lunch consisting of steak, I fell short of last year's record of 7 plates (besting everyone at the table at the time), but I did enjoy a very large meal and plenty of miniature desserts.  angrboda and  therian quite unexpectedly treated me for lunch on Sunday at Tim Horton's and were really great company the whole weekend. Shiro and his crew nabbed me for a late Sunday dinner at Swiss Chalet - at which I've never eaten, as they're virtually nonexistent in the States these days - and we had a very colorful waitress who was overwhelmed with what seemed a fairly moderate workload (even yelling out, "Oh, shit!" when she spilled our gravy). There was also a dealer - whose name I neglected to get - who was selling cupcakes and red velvet cake pops. Needless to say, she got a lot of business from me!

...and I just spent the first paragraph of my con report talking almost exclusively about food. I suppose anyone who knows me does not find this surprising.

I spent a lot of time talking with , , , , , , , , ,  firefeathers,  iceylynx,  pakesh, and perhaps most especially  jaxxblackfox and  shenanigan at whose table I made a pest of myself for much of Saturday! I also spent a bit of time chatting with  rukis who I discovered went to the same university that I did, though she was there during the window of time between my undergrad and graduate work, which is why I never knew. I spent quite a lot of time in the arcade playing "Boomerang," an Electro-Mechanical pinball from 1974 that an attendee had brought with him. Great times!

I know I'm leaving out quite a few people and it's certainly not intended as a slight, as everyone really helped lift my spirits and make it a wonderful convention for me. Wherever work takes me, I hope it's still possible to visit this con in 2014. It's growing by leaps and bounds, and is now the 2nd largest outside the USA (behind only Eurofurence).

It's nice to have my positive attitude back. Heartfelt thanks to all of my friends for helping me.

I think I've been conspicuous in my absence by almost completely ignoring this site for nearly a month, just as I have not bothered to log into my instant messengers. I'm sorry, everyone; I expect to be away for the foreseeable future as I try to pull myself together. I'm a bit blue right now.

Just to reiterate, I am heading to Furnal Equinox this weekend. I will arrive at the hotel sometime Friday morning, and I am greatly looking forward to the convention. It's barely 3 hours' drive from here, and hopefully a few days away from home with some good company will do me a world of good.

See you all later when things are looking a bit brighter. I hope.

First, some happy news: I will be attending Furnal Equinox in Toronto from March 8 - 10. I must say, I am looking forward to getting away from home for a few days to spend time with a lot of old friends. FE has proven to be a really great little con and it's not far from here, so it's anything but a strain on my budget. Should be a wonderful time! And it cannot get here quickly enough.

So many people have shared with me that I'm not the only one who's gone through difficult times recently. At least I don't feel left out.

I will not go so far as to say that things are looking up, but I'm at least feeling better. I restarted my exercise program (paying for the gym membership with Christmas money) and that's helped to clear my head and give me many good nights' sleep. Everything got upended in mid-December, with one serious consequence being that my job search went completely off the rails right before Christmas and I am essentially starting all over again.

The Game Developers' Conference is at the end of March and I'm currently planning to attend in order to network, shake a lot of hands, and fling résumés at studio reps. Unfortunately, the expense of doing this is rather huge, as it's way out in San Francisco and the trip will easily cost me several thousand dollars. I will need to make plans by mid-February, but I'm thinking it would be a very good investment, as it does not look like my job hunt is going to bear fruit before then, in any case.

I will probably be a bit scarce on instant messengers for the time being as I pull everything back together, but I'm always available by e-mail or Note if you need me.

Onward and upward.

Thanks to everyone who offered good wishes on my previous journal, whether via comment or in private. It's not been an easy time for me.

In addition to some personal problems, my dad's health continues to deteriorate and we are awaiting some test results for some suspicious tissue he had removed during a procedure last week. Even if it comes back benign, we always have his health in the back of our minds because it is on a very long, slow slide downhill and it is not going to improve.

I am tired of being stuck in this loop. Looking back on 2012, I feel like some of the things I managed to accomplish - despite ridiculous headwinds - border on being superhuman. I'm glad I was able to achieve something substantive despite the circumstances, but I simply cannot keep this up, as I do not have that kind of stamina. The solution? It's up to me to change the situation, and to put myself into a better position so I can weather the storms that will no doubt continue to come my way. That's life.

After an unplanned hiatus, I am restarting my cardio and weightlifting programs tomorrow; I need the stress relief that vigorous exercise gives me. And I'm hoping to get knee-deep into my job hunt by the end of this month after I hear back from some people who are assisting me in putting my materials together, and then in time, I will once again be picking up paychecks. I hope.

I'm grateful for the new year. I'm tired of stagnating, so I hope to make the most of it. I am also grateful that I'm starting it off in the company of so many who care about me. Thank you, everyone.

Hi everyone,

On top of the difficult financial and practical circumstances I have journaled about previously, I'm now in the middle of some profoundly difficult personal problems. I'm really doing very poorly at the moment and I will be mostly unavailable until after New Year's, so I will not be answering messages. I am unsure exactly when I will be back. It may not be too long, but for now, I just need to step away.

Everyone take care.

It's that time of the year again! Would you like to receive a Christmas card from me? If so, please send me a note with your mailing address and I would be very happy to send you a card. You do not need to send me a card in return, but of course I would be very happy to receive one from you.

Even if you do not celebrate Christmas, I would be glad to send you a card commemorating whatever holiday you do celebrate (or even just a greeting affiliated with no holiday), so please just let me know that and I would be glad to send you an appropriate greeting.

This journal will stay up until after New Year's, so please feel free to send a note anytime. I would be glad to send you a card, even if it is a little late in the season.

And now, I shall embarrass myself...

-- Italiano --

Vorresti ricevere una cartolina di Natale? Se è così, mandami il tuo indirizzo e te ne invierò una. Non è necessario spedirmene una in cambio, ma naturalmente, sarei molto contento riceverla. Se non festeggi il Natale, posso inviarti una cartolina con un saluto adatto. Prego!

-- Français --

Voudrais-tu recevoir une carte Noël? S'il en est ainsi, m'envoie ton adresse et je t'en envoyer. Ce n'est pas nécessaire de m'envoyer une carte en échange, mais bien sûr, je serais heureux de la recevoir. Si tu ne célèbres pas le Noël, je peux t'envoyer une carte avec une salutation appropriée. S'il te plaît!

-- 日本語 --

あなたにクリスマスカードと年賀状を送ってもいいですか？いいなら、Noteでご住所を送って頂きますか？私に返事を出さなくてもいいんですけど、もちろん、カードを頂くのが大好きです。皆さんのNoteをお楽しみにしています！

-- 中文 -- （對不起！我中文說得不很好。:< ）

我想要寄出你一個聖誕卡！請給我你的地址。你不得給我一個卡片，可是我很喜歡得到郵件。


I am sure I just made a lot of mistakes! But that's okay; Christmastime is meant for laughing. At me. ;)

I cannot make the trip to MFF as planned, as after a few additional expenses have been dropped on me, I do not have any reserves to make the trip. I will not be traveling anywhere for at least the next 3 months, unless for a job interview.

It is no exaggeration to say that I am in serious financial trouble and I am in danger of being swallowed up by an avalanche that I can no longer outrun. I am having problems even coming up with rent money, let alone anything else. Being in a position where I need to worry about these things almost constantly is a new experience for me, and one I hope I find myself never having to repeat.

My fingers are crossed for callbacks from some of my job applications.

Time to hock that coin collection.

- You live in a place where your vehicle has been burglarized twice with signs that it has also been entered on other occasions, despite the absence of any valuables or electronics.

- Neighbors have not had any similar experience, which while possibly coincidental, suggests you might be a target.

- The obvious lack of security necessitates carrying a flashlight and a weapon on your person at all times, as well as carefully checking your vehicle's back seat and underside before entering to ensure you are not in danger of being robbed or carjacked.

- Inability to install any useful security measures in your first-floor apartment due to restrictions imposed by your lease.

- The quality of sleep you enjoy under such circumstances.

- You cannot afford the rent for a place even this mediocre and need to borrow from family to avoid being evicted.

- You need to stop exercising because you cannot afford the gasoline to drive to the gym.

- You need to choose between buying food and buying toilet paper.


I just described my month of October.

In what is a serious disappointment, it seems I am unable to go to Furfright this year. Several additional, unexpected bills have cropped up and I do not have the extra cash I need for a convention right now. Several friends very graciously and generously offered to loan me money to attend the convention, but that is just not how I operate. I certainly hope everyone else has a wonderful time there.

Missing two years in a row due to financial weakness is definitely something of a morale killer. I'm hoping to have enough scraped up before Midwest Furfest next month in order to make the trip to Chicago, but that is also looking a bit iffy. Stay tuned!

I made it back home on Saturday night as expected, and after the nightmarish day on Friday, my trip back was extremely smooth and far better than my flights over to Europe.

Then on Monday, while unpacking my suitcase, I stubbed my toe very severely and may have broken it. It is now rather swollen and is all shades of purple, black, and blue. I showed it to my dad this morning (retired physician) and he told me he suspects that while I did not actually break a bone, I most likely completely ruptured the ligament on one side and it will take quite a while to heal, so I may be limping around for the rest of the month while my left baby toe is splinted.

Class starts tomorrow. I am studying more Italian this year and hope all goes smoothly. I will post a more detailed journal at a later time when I am not quite so exhausted, as I had a marvelous trip abroad and really have no idea where to begin talking about it!

It seems there was a strike / work stoppage in Frankfurt, Germany, which forced a number of flight cancellations, so I had to rebook my tickets. I will be home on Saturday evening. See you all soon!

It feels strange being here in Florence all alone.  danandnite did a truly fine job of looking after me. Thanks again, amico.

A happy (but fatigued!) hello to everyone. I decided to delay my return from Italy for a week and am now returning home very late on August 31st, so this is my final week here in Italy until I eventually come back (most likely in early 2013, give or take).

And my final week started with our neighbors at the hotel having a domestic dispute. In the last decade, since I started traveling on my own and attending conventions, I've stayed in about 50 different hotels and this has never happened before.

 DanandNite and I were in our room talking at around 1AM on Monday morning. I had my feet elevated, as they were rather swollen, but we were minutes away from going to sleep. Then, there was some nondescript (though loud) banging on one of the neighboring room doors, then about 5 minutes later, we started hearing some commotion in the room next to our own, followed immediately by a woman SCREAMING for help at the top of her lungs "LET ME OUT!", "NO!", "AAAAAH!" We jumped to our feet and scrambled to call the front desk. After well over a minute of screams and noise, we observed through our door's peephole a woman emerging and running for the stairs, followed shortly thereafter by a man holding two suitcases.

Dan/Nite called the front desk a second time and spoke to the clerk in Italian to try to get an explanation, and it turns out our neighbors were an American couple who had an argument, the guy started beating up the girl, and she was sobbing in the hotel's garden while security tried to calm her down before going to the police.

Obviously we were both a bit disturbed and couldn't sleep, so we stayed up talking a while longer. There continued to be commotion in the hall outside our door with the neighboring room's door slamming repeatedly, people moving noisily about in the next room, and so on. Finally, around 3:15 AM (by which point we had decided to finally try to sleep), the couple - who had obviously returned - started having a heated discussion in their room, with the door open, no less. After we called the front desk again - during such call we learned that the woman was unprepared to make a complaint because she did not have her identity documents with her (Italy...) and thus she decided to come back upstairs (alone...?) to get them - the clerk came up, pointed out that at least 3 neighboring rooms had complained about their argument (to say nothing of the earlier ruckus), gradually began to lose his own temper because of the ongoing disturbances, and angrily demanded they leave the hotel within 30 minutes or he would have them arrested.

After this, we both decided to use earplugs and collapsed from sheer exhaustion shortly after 4 o'clock. Hopefully that was the end of the story and they left quietly.

Both of us were rather dead tired today, but fortunately we're none the worse for the wear. It's hard to describe how unnerving it is to be jarred to full wakefulness by someone screaming for help, however. Yeesh!

One possible silver lining: Because of my unexpected trip extension, I was unable to book a room at this hotel for the duration of this week and we will need to move to a new hotel on Wednesday. But in light of our neighbors' eviction, perhaps a space has opened up. :) (Schadenfreude...)

Through all of this, I've been given some interesting insights into how Italian civil authorities work. Dan/Nite's cell phone was stolen last week during a day trip to Lucca, and we were unable to file a police report with the Carabinieri until the next day because the stations were all closed (!) for filing claims for the evening. And we also had to plan our trip to a nearby station the following day in order to coincide with their office hours, as many of them close for lunch. I feel safer already!

I will reiterate that I've had a wonderful trip here, and while this is definitely not a paradise, I look forward to coming back. Hopefully there will be no more brawls!

I just wanted to post a short journal letting everyone know that I'm enjoying my time in Italy about as much as I possibly could! This is quite a wonderful place and I've been very happy to experience so much. My Italian skills could be stronger, but I am certainly getting the hang of it and have managed not to cause any international incidents (yet). I look forward to sharing a boatload of photographs with everyone once I get them organized and find the best way to share them.

I just wanted to say that  danandnite has been an utterly wonderful host (and a profoundly patient language tutor, as I constantly ask him to eschew colloquialisms) and I can't imagine having a better time. I have met very few people in my life who match his warmth, honesty, and fun-loving nature.

To Dan and Nite, thank you. I owe you a lot - and you do still have a VERY big surprise coming your way. Until then, you'll just have to fear my conniving, scheming, evil grins as I imagine your reaction.

It's been a profoundly busy six weeks since Anthrocon. Yikes!

I have been very scarce as far as communication goes and have barely had time to keep up on FA journals. I have a pile of almost 7000 submissions waiting for me to browse through them all, but that will have to wait a bit longer. I've definitely had my hands full!

Though I regret not being around as much as usual, staying focused on travel details has meant that everything has come together nicely for my trip to Italy. I will be leaving the afternoon of Thursday August 2nd (Eastern Time) and will arrive in Florence on the evening of Friday August 3rd (Central European Time). I will be back at home late in the evening on August 24th.

While I am gone, I will not be available on any IM services except very sporadically, though I will be checking my email and FA Notes daily, if anyone needs to contact me.

I am still working on some last-minute details, but I think everything will be all right and I have absolute confidence that I will have a wonderful time on what will be my first trip to Europe. So, I'm off to enjoy pizza, pasta, plus lots of tea and biscotti with  danandnite in Firenze.

Ci vediamo dopo!