Back, safe and sound, and had an amazingly fun time at FWA!

I did a bulk upload of my FWA photos to Photobucket to share.

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sta.....ibrary/FWA2014

So go take a look if you like, it's basically unedited.

Over time I'll pick out the best to share. They are mostly just of the furesuit parade, and alas I was running out of battery during it which I think caused the camera to not react as well.

Enjoy!

I will have a report at some time soon as well.

Just have to say though for one thing... the updated God Level this year was so amazing... They make it better every year!

Thanks to everyone I met and I hope many enjoyed the cookies. :)

Today, I bake... lots!

Got some new stuff this year to share as well too.

Hope all is well out there!

Tomorrow I head for FWA and I should be there Thursday evening and be there until Sunday Afternoon is the plan. I'm excited and looking forward to a good time!

Going to be at FWA? Want Cookies? I'll trade a dozen Jumbo, or two dozen regular sized cookies for art!

Interested? Let me know!

Also avaialable, two pound blocks of fudge, assorted flavors available.

Right now I'll definitely be doing

Chocolate Chip,
Oatmeal Raisin,
Sugar Cookies

And I can do a few other types as well, so if something isn't listed that you would like feel free to suggest. :)

Haven't updated in a while, so just giving a quick update.

I apologize if I've missed things. I've been in a horrid, horrid slump of late and it's basically sapping all of my energy beyond what I use to go to work and take care of myself. Playing a few games beyond that to try and keep things going, but I still feel it slipping down hill.

Because of that I know I usually do fudge for art around the holidays but I may not this year. I just, need to find the energy. I plan to make some for some close friends and family and some for work, but I don't know if I'll be doing the tons I did last year.

While I enjoyed it greatly, right now finding the energy and drive to do it makes it very rough.

I am sorry for that and those who might have been looking forward to it.


I hope all is well out there for all!

Much love,

~Allon the Cookie Dragon

Well, I'm already thinking ahead to Megaplex... it's a theme right up my alley and I want to really put on a good showing for it! I want to do something special.

I mean, I'm going to make CANDY, and some cookies and fudge, but get into some REAL candy making. (Not that Fudge isn't but some more variety.)

Lollipops and salt-water taffy are definitely going to be in abundance. Anyone else have things they like?

So that'll be something to work on...

BUT...

What I really need? An Outfit... and well I've never really done any cos-play beyond a mismash of stuff done for Furloween one year and I want to do a cos-play of Willy Wonka...

The old one. You know, this one. http://onecrazybible.files.wordpres.....onka.jpg?w=584

He was only kind of crazy... heh. I also like the purple.

Now as someone who has done no costuming and only really studied into fursuit related things (And I'm quite sure I won't have a suit by then, much as a Draconic Willy Wonka would be so awesome) I'd love some advice on well, how do I go about finding such an outfit? Anyone able to recreate? Suggestions for places to look for such things?

I think it would be fun and I'd really love to do some Cosplay of it.

Also, pondering FWA and deciding on roommate seeking or going a solo room again. I'll be there Friday and Saturday and leaving Sunday morning and coming in Friday morning.

Megaplex I'll most likely be a Friday morning to Sunday night or Monday morning.

Well, I definitely need a drink after that! Heh, it had to have been one of the most intense and nerve wracking hours of my life there! But it was fun, I enjoyed it, and given a little more time I felt I could have been a LOT more prepared. Basically being given about twenty minutes to setup for a twenty minute demo is kind of rough, and I definitely made some mistakes but I also shared where I messed up too under the bit of pressure. No time for notes! Though I felt I presented myself well and after some initial verbal stumbling I did pretty well I think!

I won't know if I have the position for at least a week as they still have three more people to get demos from, and it's totally possible they won't hire anyone at all, so even with just six applicants it doesn't really make my chances any easier. (Evidently last hiring attempt they had nine demos and hired none!)

What I had to do was cook some shrimp and prepare a vinaigrette and salad using, well, basically most of the whole pantry they had there. I did a five spice shrimp and a peanut vinaigrette for the salad, topped the salad with the shrimp. I botched the proper pan heating but I caught that quickly and did lightly overcook them (But everyone finished there plates so it wasn't to bad at least!) The dressing turned out well enough though for the salad, I know the combination of five spice and ginger for the shrimp is a good mix as I use it sometimes for chicken and pork stir fry style dishes.

Regardless, I'm getting myself a drink, going to relax with some WoW and enjoy some fudge.

I did bring them fudge which they enjoyed and were pretty grateful for too. It was a culinary interview, bringing food with you definitely helps.

Time will tell what happens, I'm excited, nervous, and know I did my best but I could have done better at the same time. Though we are always our own worst critic, are we not?

Just a small life update...

I never did post a Megaplex con report, but suffice it to say it was AWESOME, I look forward to next year especially with it's theme that is sort of like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... Any good ideas for how a Cookie Dragon can really work with that? I'd love some ideas so I can start getting ready!

As for life update, I recently went in for an interview that would get me a nice position upgrade within my work. I could possibly become one of the Sous Chef's (There are a few) that work in the cooking school here. It would be a bit of a dream job, be a nice bit higher pay scale, and I am confident I can do a good job. I'd also be improving my own knowledge and skills, teaching others, and hey maybe get on the TV every now and then (The school does a recipe on the local Morning Show every Thursday morning.)

Who knows, right?

This Tuesday I go in to perform a Live Demonstration before a live audience to see if I can teach, entertain, and how my cooking skills are.

I'm nervous and excited! I've been wanting this opportunity for years.

I hope it goes well.

Back from Megaplex.... it was AWESOME!

So VERY VERY AWESOME....

I'm tired though, and should crash for now... but thanks to all the staff of Megaplex for a great con, and a big thank you to all my friends with Little Tales group too for a great time of socializing and party as well.

Everyone is so great, I'm looking forward to next Megaplex already...

And watching  holliehyena become broken is laughter is wonderfully amusing...

So, who will be coming to Megaplex this year?

It's coming up and I'll be there, and looking forward to it.

I'll be bringing an assortment of fudges, and a few types of cookies.

Anyone have any requests?

Well, I'll be leaving shortly heading to the Picnic out at Hannah Park! I look forward to seeing many locals and nearby out of towners.

I've got a selection of fudge, cookies, and a rather fun look Paw shaped strawberry cake as well. I'll have pics of the cake up later at some point.

Rainy day today, but that doesn't stop me, I love the picnic to much... now I had planned on going to the Fursuit bowling afterwards but that is really going to depend on how I feel... I just had a root canal AND crown work done Wednesday, and my mouth is still really sore from it. I won't be taking my good pain killer though since i'll be driving and just using Ibuprofen instead. The root canal went well, but still pretty painful, ugh.

My FWA 2013 Recap!

Well, I'm home mostly safe and mostly sound from FWA (Details of why I say, Mostly, at the end) and I had a real blast at the convention! It was phenomenal this year once again and I'm again VERY glad I got God Level as I enjoyed all the perks immensely. I really do recommend it if you are able to splurge for it. If you take real advantage of the suite you won't really need to worry about buying food at the convention (I know, I didn't actually buy any food at all.) I have to give special appreciation to the lunches they provided. They were delicious gourmet sandwiches that were AMAZING and some of the best I've ever eaten. I was told they came from, Metrofresh I believe the name was? One of the top sandwich places in Atlanta. I wanted to EAT THEM ALL, but I controlled myself. Also the Meat Faucet on Friday night was wonderful, as always, and that place treats us really well. The bag we got this year is really neat too! Also they were nice and got me Diet Mountain Dew after the first day when they went and did restocking. I brought up a platter of cookies once or twice a day to the suite as well to share with those there. Tons of snacks all the time available too and it's also a great place to converse and meet others as well. Plus, front of the line at Reg doesn't hurt either.

I did not hug enough fursuiters though, which is a shame. I got some hugs, but really needed more. I love hugging fursuiters (Well, okay, I love hugging everyone) but didn't quite run into enough! Next time. :) I did get some good friend hugs in though, it's all good! Need more hugs still though.

I will have some photos to share later on of Fursuits from the Parade. I had a rather nice spot for photos, and some turned out decent.
((Photo Dump at http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Sta.....FWA2013?page=1 ))

The Cookie tray I offered to the Charity Auction this year went for $160! (Special thanks to  violetneko for buying the cookies!) That blew my mind and I was so happy to help out CCI that much with that. I'll post a picture of the platter as well soon (I took one before I wrapped it). The people at CCI are always amazingly friendly and great to talk with. The cute “Bear-cat” they had with them was adorable as well. I really want to get to North Carolina at some point and visit CCI in person someday. That's one of my goals at some point when I can arrange it.

This was a good Relax convention for me this year, and I'd been needing it. Had some drunken bit of debauchery, but nothing to extreme. No hangovers or even late mornings. I was up before my 9am alarm everyday to the beautiful glow of a golden room, on the 31st floor with a window that directly faced the rising sun. It was gorgeous to see the sunrise from the room.

I really enjoyed the hotel except for Elevator Con and Wait for Elevator Con. Eventually things got worked out a bit though at the end it did take me around forty-five minutes to get down with my luggage when I was leaving. Kept having packed elevators stop, and there was a line on the floor of others leaving too. I'd say that was my only complaint and I'm not sure what can be done about it. The staff was very nice and helpful of the hotel and seemed happy to have me there. Also, Cell-phone reception in the hotel is HORRIBLE. I was without signal unless I was near the window in my room or on the convention space, and even then anywhere near the elevators I'd be without signal. Made communicating with others at times rather odd. (What's that? I got four text messages at once? From different people? A few hours late? Sheesh!)

The spread out layout (Rather, Vertical Layout) of the convention made things feel almost like a small con again in ways. I didn't mind that at all, and once I figured it out I was busy around. The escalators made moving around the floors a breeze and was very easy to get around. The convention space worked great for me. Huge Dealer's Den was awesome, and the Artist's Alley was nice too though it did seem to get over heated in there!

FWA staff was, as always, pretty awesome to me. Love them dearly and I'm really pondering putting in for heavy Volunteering this next year, mostly trying to stick to the God-level suite, I admit, and helping with hospitality. It's what I do, after all, and I love doing it.

Attended a bit of a dance one night and the Light System there was VERY Epic. Amazing how much and all over the place it was. Loved it! I though couldn't find out what types of music the different Djs played, I would have liked to have had that info on the dance listing outside the main hall like they've done before. I'm partial to Trance and 80s mixes for dancing and less so dubstep, and some Techno. That's just personal preference though.

Matthew Ebel ( hali) concert was awesome! He started with Into the Muck (Which I love) and soon did the Lives of Dexter Peterson album. Sadly his show started a little late and the dance competition was lined up right after so his Encore never got preformed. They came over the PA and had people clearing off chairs real fast! Alas. I got to attend the party in his room afterward and really loved it as well. Awesome time indeed! I hope they can bring back Runtt one of these years again.

The Laugh out Loud Improv people were once again, truely awesome. Loved there show (I arrived halfway through it though) but got to attend there Panel show later on which was great. Lots of audience participation in that, but I really need to attend that with a drink or two in me to help me overcome my shyness. I look forward to seeing them next year.

Got to catch up with old friends, got to make some new ones too, and had a really great time. Already went and registered for next year too. Got some great artwork of my character too in trade for cookies and sweets! I'll be doing it again for Megaplex as well. Got six prints of Theresa Mathers as well from the Art Auction too... I always get tons of her stuff, and I'd really love to meet her someday. I once almost wrote her an e-mail but I worried I'd sound way to creepy fan boy and just couldn't figure out what to say that wouldn't sound like a gibbering idiot. I've got like forty plus pieces of her work, including a couple of her Stone and Feather pieces that are one of a kind. Most framed and hanging up too. Just, afraid to say anything. Maybe someday I'll get out of my shyness!

Next event for me, The Jax Furs picnic on April 20th, at Hannah Park. ( http://www.floridafurs.com/jaxpicnic )If you are in the Florida area come on and check it out! We had over 120 people last year and probably more this year. Everyone brings something to contribute. I'll be doing cookies and probably a couple other things too! They have Fursuit Bowling afterward as well.

Now, onto that note of “Mostly Safe and Sound” part I mentioned in the beginning. On Leaving on Sunday I was driving off and after a bit I got cut in front of and smacked into the side of a car. The particular fellow was not very nice, either, but I didn't get a ticket, the other guy did for failure to yield. My car is actually in rather good condition and drives just fine, it seems mostly cosmetic damage, though the other guys car had his side airbags go off and a really big dent. I'm a bit sore all over right now and especially in my chest from the seat belt. Glad to be home from that!

Now to get back on life focus. Trying to refocus onto healthy eating again, get this weight off. Get closer to 200lbs so I can really consider that Allon the Cookie Dragon fursuit I want someday as a partial (And maybe Full someday!)

Thanks to everyone out there for an awesome con and a fun time! Looking forward to FWA 2014!

Well, FWA is coming up next month already... Phew, time does fly!

As usual I plan to be bringing cookies.

Already planned will be good ol Chocolate Chip and Sugar.

I may do some Snickerdoodle white chocolate chip as well (Tried some this christmas and really enjoyed them.)

Anyone have any cookie requests?

Also I'm open for cookie trades to be delivered at FWA this year too.

A Baker's Dozen JUMBO cookies, or two dozen regular sized cookies of your choosing.

You may choose your flavor if you have a favorite, I can try and work with it. Right now Chocolate Chip and Sugar cookies are a sure thing, other flavors are available until I have five chosen. So if you like you can help choose what others get at FWA. :)

Feel free to Note Me or Post here your interest. I'll be looking for artwork of my character (In any manner) and if you can theme it to FWA's theme "Still in Love" in some manner extra props to you.

---

Example of Jumbo vs. Regular sized cookies. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5914362/

Once again  quaylak Is hosting through the Fit'N'Furry group (A great and supportive community to visit for keeping healthy) a competition for loosing weight!

It's percentage based, not just by the pound, so anyone with some weight to loose has a chance.

I'll be going for it as this holiday I put on a LOT more poundage than I should have... Bad dragon! Bad me indeed, but I enjoyed myself.

Time to get back on track of things. :)

So check out Fit'N'Furry over on Livejournal. http://fitnfurry.livejournal.com/

For contest info, it's right here. http://fitnfurry.livejournal.com/126967.html For finding out all the nitty gritty details and why it's done.

Short notice but competition sign ups END on Wednesday, January 9th. You'll need a photo of your scale (With you on it) for your first and last posting as well, weight ins required weekly too.

Weekly things to talk over and posts happen too.

The winner (Or sometimes winners) also get there choice of prizes from a selection, many of which are from artists!

So come on over and check it out!

What have you got to loose? For me, it's about 90 pounds, heh.

Just wanted to wish all those watching me a Merry Christmas! I hope it can be a time of joy for you or a time of remembrance of happy moments, no matter what you celebrate (Or don't celebrate) this time of year.

May it have plenty of food, fun, and frolicing for you! Lots of fudge, cookies, and whatever you might like!

Took me four hours last night of fudge packing but it's done now and all ready to ship!

Heading out to the Post Office to ship it all out on my way to my D&D game, so most people who have trades with me should be receiving there fudge by Friday or Saturday at the latest. If you don't receive it by Saturday PLEASE LET ME KNOW, as I could have goofed in my shipping or something went wrong in the shipping as well.

I've got everything well recorded in what I've shipped so if someone doesn't get something it's probably a case of me being derpy and accidently forgot to write the name down, or it's the post office.

Enjoy the fudge and Happy Holidays!

~Allon

I did a recent post on this but thought I would do another post since it is getting close to time. Fudge will be going out as I can prep it and probably with the aim of early December is the plan.

Those who have already shown interest I've mostly got your info. A few people I still need info from and I'll go and poke about it. :)

I am happy to trade for holiday sweets in a sweet exchange too!

----

Well, it's getting that time of year when sweets start popping up in everyones kitchen, and of the home baked variety and not just candy from Halloween.

In that I'll be starting on Fudge fairly soon towards the end of November and I would like to know if anyone is interested in trading fudge for art? Or doing a sweet exchange as well of there own baked goods for the holidays?

My standard offer is of around two pounds of fudge of your choosing, a variety is possible as well. This year I'll be shipping them in larger blocks and not precut like I did last year. Variety still fully possible though, no worries! (To give a volume size to the two pounds, it's basically about the size of a VHS tape, whatever I can fit in one of those flat rate VHS sized small boxes of the post office.)

Flavors I am sure to have are...

Chocolate
Dark Chocolate
Chocolate Mint
White Chocolate (Also can be done in mint if there is a request for it)
Peanut Butter and Chocolate (And straight peanut butter if wanted too)
Nutella (One of my favorites, course I like them all!).

I might be doing small batches with nuts as well and am willing to experiment with flavors as well too. I think I'll be doing a batch of Black Walnut fudge at some point. I do take requests though, so please ask if something else tickles your fancy.

What I want? Well, art or home baked sweets! If it's art I rather like a holiday sort of theme to it of my character. Though the Holiday part is very flexible, if you have ideas I welcome them, just let me know in a note.

Some refs :

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7628346/ (For four legged)

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1238814/ (Anthro)

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7222731/ (Bronified)

And, plenty of assorted other pics when doing a search for Allon on FA. (I never have gotten a full ref sheet done yet.)

If you are interested let me know here and pop me a note with what you want and would like to make as well.

This offer though is limited to those within the United States as shipping food items to other countries can potentially run into problems, and it also takes a whole lot longer too.

Well, it's getting that time of year when sweets start popping up in everyones kitchen, and of the home baked variety and not just candy from Halloween.

In that I'll be starting on Fudge fairly soon towards the end of November and I would like to know if anyone is interested in trading fudge for art? Or doing a sweet exchange as well of there own baked goods for the holidays?

My standard offer is of around two pounds of fudge of your choosing, a variety is possible as well. This year I'll be shipping them in larger blocks and not precut like I did last year. Variety still fully possible though, no worries! (To give a volume size to the two pounds, it's basically about the size of a VHS tape, whatever I can fit in one of those flat rate VHS sized small boxes of the post office.)

Flavors I am sure to have are...

Chocolate
Chocolate Mint
White Chocolate (Also can be done in mint if there is a request for it)
Peanut Butter and Chocolate (And straight peanut butter if wanted too)
Nutella (One of my favorites, course I like them all!).

I might be doing small batches with nuts as well and am willing to experiment with flavors as well too. I think I'll be doing a batch of Black Walnut fudge at some point. I do take requests though, so please ask if something else tickles your fancy.

What I want? Well, art or home baked sweets! If it's art I rather like a holiday sort of theme to it of my character. Though the Holiday part is very flexible, if you have ideas I welcome them, just let me know in a note.

Some refs :

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7628346/ (For four legged)

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1238814/ (Anthro)

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7222731/ (Bronified)

And, plenty of assorted other pics when doing a search for Allon on FA. (I never have gotten a full ref sheet done yet.)

If you are interested let me know here and pop me a note with what you want and would like to make as well.

This offer though is limited to those within the United States as shipping food items to other countries can potentially run into problems, and it also takes a whole lot longer too.

Just updating that I'll be far and away in the state of cheese known as Wisconsin from the dates of Wednesday September 5th until Wednesday September 12th!

Visiting quite a few relatives up there and an assortment of things too. It should be plenty of fun and I'm looking forward to the trip, even though a little worried about the whole flying thing... It's one thing to fly with your own wings, it's another thing to be completely cramped in a metal tube full of recycled air and odd diseases lingering...

Definitely not forgetting my vitamins.

I've talked of them before, and missed they were starting till just the other day and thought I should share.

Fit N' Furry is a health group for those furs wanting to fit up a little bit. They run a contest for who can loose the biggest PERCENTAGE of weight over the course of a period of time.

To find all the details, check out here. http://fitnfurry.livejournal.com/114968.html

Even though Monday is the starting day, they usually still allow signups for that monday, just be ready with a photograph of you on your scale for the first weigh in. Expect another photo at the end of the competition too.

Many choices of prizes!

I won one of the competitions, and in the end this is the prize I got.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7628346/

One of my favorites. :)

Please come and check it out, it's been a wonderful community and very supportive.

I need to get back on the weightless thing.

While not one to pimp out artists or partake in to many giveaway things (And this one isn't a giveaway either) but I just wanted to mention a wonderful artist named  kittybird who is one of the most wonderful, sweetest mixed with a little sassy sort of people out there.

She has opened herself up to commissions and does quite a nice job! I need to upload the pic she did for me at Megaplex sometime soon here too (And that Megaplex report, bad on me on that!)

But go and commission THE  kittybird for some of her wonderful, and affordable too, artwork! You'll be helping her and her draggy out!

I do enjoy photo taking, and I got about 145 photos from Megaplex 2012 this year.

Here is a link to the photo dump.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....gaplex%202012/

I'll be cropping and fixing up shots of some of the suits and other things as time allows, as well as getting up a posting for how the time went (Which went wonderfully fun.)

So, those wanting to search through photos go right ahead, a lot of different suits and a bunch from the fursuit parade in there too.

Also, some nice photos of the moment that Pudge was delivering Dipper and other goodies to Gen.

Well, I arrived back yesterday, but just posting up I made it back safe and sound.

The convention was a great time and I spent a lot of it socializing, as well as attending some of the many events as well too. It was an amazingly great time and I loved it.

I'll have plenty of pictures to come from the event over the next few days, and then back to regular food stuffs too!

A con report later on as well too when I'm not about to leave off for work.

Good to be home, yet I also miss my friends from Megaplex too and wish I had another day.

Much love to all!

~Allon

Heading out later than I wanted, but I'll be leaving shortly to get on out there by early afternoon!

See those there who are there! I'll have plenty of cookies and fudge too! Hopefully it all makes the trip okay.

Or, Cookies for, well, whatever sort of trade you might have in mind (Including cookies!).

I'll be at Megaplex toward the end of the month and so I'm opening up offers for trading cookies for art.

Either 1 dozen JUMBO cookies of your choosing, or 2 dozen regular sized cookies.

I will for sure have Sugar and Chocolate chip cookies, beyond that if you have another type you'd be interested in let me know! I'll see what I can do! So in doing a trade you'll also help decide what cookie flavors will be there.

I can also do Fudge as well too.

I really had a true blast there... the hotel, it was amazing! I got to catch up with friends a bit and had a great time all in all. I got to eat at a Fudruckers! I haven't eaten at one of those since I was a kid... The Wonderworks was a really neat adventure too! Informative and fun!

There were good parties, midnight swimmings, excellent Sunday Breakfast, the Arcade saw me a few times too (Though not as much as last year).

And while I would have liked to have gone to the Magic Kingdom, needing to be at work at 5am kind of convinced me I didn't need to go.

Oh, and  amberyn77 took this utterly cute video of me handing out cookies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYW4.....eature=related

Not that I didn't already post it before, but it makes me smile to see it, I was completely unaware of that happening. I really think the background singing of  rhubarbthebear actually fits rather well in feeding the menagerie around me.

I got to meet new people, got some great photos, and all in all had a really good time that was relaxing!

Then I came home and had to work, blech.

Photo dump is here...
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....allon/ESG2012/

With 111 pictures total.

Oh and one of my personally big highlights of the gathering... Shaking the hand of Rob Paulson!

Don't know that name? Well, he happens to the voice behind Pinkie, and the original Raphael the turtle! And Yacko Warner! And he sang the Yacko's world song. He's a really amazing guy and I got some tips on Voice Acting and learned of some books to check out too and websites. I enjoy using my voice and actually want to get some ideas I have posted up here someday too.

So it was kind of like getting to shake the hand of a childhood hero, or several in a way all at once. Even though Donatello was my favorite... which he is going to be the voice of in the new Turtle show coming out later! Sqweee!

There Breakfast at the hotel was pretty amazing too, if a bit pricy, but the quality and variety were the reason why. Quite amazing, and I had the time there to meet plenty of others and I made some good new friends!

I'm looking forward to Megaplex coming up and also Jullie Bunny must Die being presented there too as a musical. That should be hilarious. :)

There will be cookies at Megaplex...

In fact, there should be LOTS of cookies at Megaplex as not only will I be bringing some, but expect  holliehyena to be bringing plenty too! And who knows what else.

I'm happy for that and look forward to it.