Well, I was linked to a fun video on Youtube involving me, and fursuiters, at a moment when I was handing out a bunch of cookies to them, heh.





This was shot by  amberyn77 And linked in her journal here...

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3437780/


Thank you  amberyn77 For shooting this awesome moment. I had no idea I was on camera, heh.

I really love this. :)

So I now have my Photobucket linked to with the 111 photos I have from Elliot's Spring Gathering, 2012 here.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....allon/ESG2012/

Right now they've been turned to be upright but beyond that no editing. If you see something you'd like a BIG copy of let me know in a note and I can e-mail it to you (Photobucket defaults to shrinking pics a bit.) A mix of stuff in there for sure.


Also while at ESG I had a couple people remember I did a bunch of pictures of Elliot's last year and also Megaplex so I thought I would I would make a quick posting here of links to all the different photo dumps I have. As always all my favorite fursuit pics are generally posted here on FA, and sometimes a few other photos too.


ESG 2012 (111 Photos)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....allon/ESG2012/

ESG 2011 (184 Photos)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....allon/ESG2011/

Megaplex 2011 (205 Photos)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....gaplex%202011/

Furloween 2011 (27 photos)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....loween%202011/

FWA 2005 (36 photos) (Though I think this year might be wrong! Since I have a bunch of Miscellanious FWA pics from I believe 2006 on my computer, with a modified date of 2006, and they don't match up. It's possible these are from 2005 or even earlier.)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....allon/FWA2005/

FWA 2006 (244 Pics) ( I believe these are from 2006, had them on my computer but hadn't been uploaded ever it seems!)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....allon/FWA2006/

FWA 2011 (49 Pics)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....on/FWA%202011/


FWA 2012 (177 pics)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....on/FWA%202012/

JaxFurs Picnic 2006 (31 pics)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....ursPicnic2006/

JaxFurs Picnic 2011 (85 Pics)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....Picnic%202011/

Jaxfurs Picnic 2012 (201 pics)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....Picnic%202012/



Enjoy picture surfing! :)

Back from Elliot's and going to crash a bit soon, heh, got work at 5am tomorrow so I didn't get to go to the Magic Kingdom, alas.

Had a great time though and I'll get up some pics and more comments on Elliot's later this week, I'm tired, but I had a blast of a weekend.

Soon I'll be off for Elliot's Spring Gathering! I hope it'll be a good time...

I'm actually bringing a swim suit too, so I might actually go swimming in a public location! ::gasp:: My pastey plump self in a pool? Heh... maybe.

It's been forever.

Though it sounds like the place is going to be really fun! I'm looking forward to it as usual.

Only ended up with about 30 dozen cookies... I suffered to much ADD and sudden "Nap attacks"... since I'd been working 9 days straight it had kind of gotten to me I guess I was more tired than I thought.

See those who will be at Elliot's, at Elliot's!

I ask the question above because I'm looking to get into it and I'd love some suggestions on good sites where I can buy the supplies from that are reputable and good? I find lots of places on-line but am, unsure a bit.

I'd be happy if anyone could offer up recommendations and any tips as well on brewing.

Thank you!

~Allon

"Well, just got finished looking at my balls, seems I had two!"








This was said in a stream when a discussion about bowling balls was going on and I went down to check on my balls of around fourteen years old. My personal ball seems in okay condition, but my father's ball has a HUGE crack going around most of the ball.

Looking back at what I wrote and the temporary quiet of the stream after I said it was, very amusing to me... it made me laugh.

I'll be picking the best (And from the looks of it, there may be a decent number of pics to it) and cropping and modifying for uploading... But for now I like to use Photobucket for a photo dump of all.. 201 pictures I took during the event.

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

There is a link! Feel free to rumage through, right now everything is unedited so a lot of pictures are on there sides. If you see something you want a full blown pic of send me a note with your e-mail and the picture numbers and I can send you them.

Photobucket naturally shrinks the size of photos a bit when uploading.

Pictures soon coming to FA! :)

Phew! LONG but really great day. I loved the picnic, had a great time, and my cookies and other delights were well enjoyed by many! I also got to go to the cosmic bowling and that was a blast.

Anyway, I've work in the morning so I must sleep. Photos and more to come up in the days to come as I sort through my favorites from the day and night!

Was a wonderful time.


Two weekends from now and it's time for Elliot's! I need to look into roomates for that, I have a room reserved and I "may" have a roommate to split cost but a lot depends on his coming business in the next week, so still easily room for two others.

~Allon

Leaving for the Annual Jaxfurs Picnic in probably the next hour. Have an hour drive out to it, and nicely I don't work 5am tomorrow so I can go to the cosmic Fursuit bowling afterwards!

This year I'm bringing more than just cookies (I'll post photos later).

I'm bringing...

Chocolate Chip Cookies,
Sugar Cookies
Ghiradeli Brownies (From a box, but I spike them with extra chips).
Home Made Marshmellows! (I'm not a huge marshmellow fan from the bags, but OMG these are so much better... wait, did I just use an OMG?)
A Vegan Quinoa Salad.

Having gone to CostCo recently I picked up a few extras just in case
Also be bringing some Multi-grain thin buns,
Extra Hot Dog Buns
Some Polish Sausage Dogs
Some Extra plates

And probably a little ice, have to stop to get some in the cooler on the way and get money for the bowling tonight.

Weee, I hope it doesn't rain very much if it rains at all.

Those attending I will see you there at Hannah Park!

Just a reminder to those interested that the Fit N' Furry Challenge Signups end tomorrow, and the first day of Weigh Ins is today and tomorrow as well.

You can join still, just come, sign up and include a picture of you on your scale.

http://fitnfurry.livejournal.com/

Prizes for the person who looses the most PERCENTAGE of there body weight!

It's helped me a bit to keep honest to my weight loss.

You'll have to weigh in every Monday or Tuesday with your current weight, and optionally provide a little detail of how you are feeling on your diet, and good and bad things.

It goes for ten weeks.

If you gain weight for two weeks in a row you are out as well as if you miss a weigh in (Though planned occasions of missing are okay IF you let the cordinator  quaylak know ahead of time that you will be unable to do a weigh in.)

It can be tough... but hey, it helps to work towards being more fit. :)

I've found them to be a nice and supportive community!

~Allon

Well, I did my full photo dump to http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....on/FWA%202012/ where I have all 177 pics in there. Feel free to browse, though sadly the huge amount of fursuit parade images all look like a bad acid trip, alas.

I still have them there though, so you can go "Whoa, groovy" or some such, heh.

Beyond that we should now be returning to... recipes! Which is what I'm here for. I'll be delving back to things from Christmas time actually with the promised fudge recipes that I never posted up here... I really must do this!

Might have the occasional fursuit photo or event up still... Especially at the end of April when the Jaxfurs picnic happens, and beginning of May for Elliot's Spring gathering!

I should probably be looking for roomates for Elliot's Spring Gathering and Megaplex at the end of July as well.

Current menu plan for the Jaxfurs picnic.

Cookies!

And I "may" also be making up a bean salad, a Quinoa salad (I recently discovered quinoa, and it's both tasty and healthy!), and picking up some Veggie Burgers and some Multi-grain thin buns as well. I'll have to see how time permits and my preparedness.

My computer is behaving now, oddly enough.

I'm home, safe and sound, and still recovering from it, and still feeling good and inspired a bit too. (Though my cat has been hiding since I got home like she forgot meh or something! She is a silly thing sometimes.)

I had a really wonderful FWA and I wish I had been able to have more time at the convention. I got to meet with people I haven't met with since last FWA, got to see friends I only speak to on-line, and got to see lots of great artwork and awesome fursuits.

I've got a lot of fursuit pictures taken at the convention that I'll probably get posted up over time, posting the best ones up here and doing a full dump of all the pictures onto my photobucket later. Hopefully at least some of the 100+ came out okay, since a bunch were from the parade and I'm not the best at moving object photography.

God-level was once again worth it as I bought no food the whole entire convention (And even though I brought protein shake mix with me I ended up not using any of it either) and Fogo de chao was awesome as always. The only sad part about the time of the dinner was that is conflicted with  hali's concert and I arrived just to see the end song and the two encores. He had such a shiney outfit too! I did get to see footage of the concert though afterwards up at the After-party and enjoy some hard cider and some interesting drinks as well (One basically was two scotsmen beating up an irishman in your mouth, or so Matthew Ebel called it). Very good party and nice visiting with others there too!

On an interesting god-level dinner note, those with god-level got a Moulon-Rogue themed letter when they arrived mentioning the god-level dinner. One thing that amused me in the letter is, well I'll quote it here.

"You have also been invited to dine with the Duke at the God Level Dinner, Friday night. As the Gothic Tower is being renovated, we have moved the dinner outside of the Moulin Rouge."

Now, what does it say when I read that and the first thing I think of is  baddragon since, well, that is Duke! Yes, I suppose this destroys some of the innocent image of the cookie dragon. The odd irony of this though? I did actually get to dine with Duke, or at least the staff of his organization. They were all really nice people and are also quite generous to the charity auction and convention as well. It was great to talk with them, and I had the lovely singing voice of  kibayoukai next to me as well. She was to preform at the talent show which alas I had to miss as I was picked up before that time.

My cat has now come out of hiding and is demanding much pets, which I am giving inbetween bits of writing.

I got some wonderful new badges and artwork in trade for cookies, which I'll get scans of those (That need scanned in at least) hopefully soon and posted. Also my platter of cookies donated to the charity auction this year broke a new record and went for $100! I was extremely happy with this and glad to have helped out CCI with this. I also gave CCI a bunch of bagged cookies for them to enjoy, sealed in little bags with paws on them, and I gave them my extra stock of paw print bags I had left so they can use them for further events themselves. They do a really wonderful Coconut Meringues as well too. Does anyone know if CCI or some of the people from CCI have FA accounts? I'd love to say hi to them here.


I could drop names of people I met and talked with, but it's been so many! I did get wonderful cookies from  blimpwolf and  holliehyena and some excellent quick breads from  retrogradenova.  brejar Got me an adorable golden dragon and made for a great roomie too! I got great badges from  lazerthehyena,  dreamesque, and one from  quaylak for winning one of the past Fit'N'Furry Competiitions! (For which if you are in need of loosing weight visit http://fitnfurry.livejournal.com/ to join. We are starting the next competition on Monday march 26th, and sign-ups are currently active for that. It's based off percentage of body weight lost, not actual pounds, so even if you've only a smaller amount to loose you can still win even when someone else drops off twenty pounds. For me it has helped a lot in just keeping me reporting to others and giving me some extra responsibility and motivation. So join Fit and Furry! Win prizes! Get better health!)

Oh, and I really have to mention  javameerkat for this awesome Apron I got from her, and a matching Chef's hat with Allon on it and a dragon on the top. It's amazing and I was wearing it around for half the con. I have photos of it so I'll definitely have that up here (Hopefully sooner rather than later).

Two's performance was great and had me laughing a plenty (And I meant to go see if he had the CD of the performance the next day in the dealer's den but alas in my running around I forgot to get that.) The dance competition was awesome as always, it amazes me how well people can move and dance, and then doing it in a fursuit no less even more impressive! I didn't attend the dances much this year though due to, well, they usually had to many people. Which I think is really great since often they seemed to not have a whole lot, and what I did hear of the music I enjoyed.

The Laugh out Loud Improv was a great show and so was the "So you want to do Improve" panel a great time too. I really need to get in contact with Starchild from that (Who appears to not be Starchild here on FA.) Namely to talk about some brewing, actually. Plus he's a great fellow. I was overcome by shyness at the panel though and "almost" stepped up and joined in on a few occasions but would always chicken out or my brain would flutter to nothingness at my ideas. I can be horribly shy unfortunately! Once I start talking I'm good, but actually reaching out and being the first to talk or to step in or interrupt... that I just have such trouble with.

I just gave my cat some catnip, she is such a junkie.

Picked up some really nice art at the convention as well as comic books for some of my favorite comics out there too. Normally I spend more in the art show at FWA, this year I spent more at the Dealer's Den, though I kept my spending to not being to excessive. I didn't actually commission anything as I tend to just stick to buying prepared and ready items. I need ideas for things to be commissioned. So I'm sure at some point I'll arrange for plenty of such things.

I had a really great time at the convention and already look forward to next year. Already paid for my God-level for next year.

My cat, after having finished her catnip up on the cat tree, was doing sonic squeaks at me for attention and I went to pet her for several minutes. She hasn't actually had any pets since I left, even though my parents did come to give her food and water she always hides and is shy. Despite being a couple years with me my parents have only seen pictures of her.

FWA is always inspiring, I just hope I can dig myself out of my bits of depression and shyness, put my feet forward (One at a time at least) and get to moving on. I want to get to working on that cook book, I want to reach down to 200lbs (At which point I'll be looking to commission a fursuit of Allon!), want to get back to regular postings here. I want to develop a business plan for actually selling cookies and baked goods (And having a vacuum sealer now will help with that immensely. Those who got orders from me at FWA got to see some of the results of it in use!) The purpose of the business to spread happiness. Okay, silly I know but that's a big part of why I love doing cookies.

While I did make No Sugar Added cookies for the convention, next year I may try for some Gluten Free. The No Sugar Added cookies I did I think would be excellent for a biscotti dough especially if added with nuts and dried fruits. I may try them that way sometime.

Now, just the short wait until the Jaxfurs Picnic, Elliot's Spring Gathering, and then Megaplex beyond that! I look forward to all three.

Now, to have a small dinner, play some WoW, relax, and have a funky mid-shift for work tomorrow. I do wish I had asked for one more day of vacation, I feel I could use some more rest.

I hope all is well who is out there and reads this!

And hello again to so many wonderful people I met and didn't mention here. I felt loved and happy there at FWA from so many friendly and kind people. Thank you all for wonderful hugs, talking, and general support. :)

Well, FWA is quickly approaching and while I perhaps should have posted this sooner I am looking to once again offer trading of a dozen jumbo (Or two dozen regular) cookies in exchange for art to be exchanged at FWA!

How it works...

Offer something that you would like for cookies, either here or in a Note to me, then mention what kind of cookies you want. I'll respond here or note you back from there to confirm!

I'll be arriving to FWA on Friday and leaving sometime Sunday afternoon most likely. I might stay later if I can manage it, I'll have to see.



Cookies that I will have for sure are...

Chocolate Chip and Sugar cookies, and I'll probably do my Ginger Spice cookies because they always seem to be a really big hit.


Beyond that, if you want a particular type of cookie let me know and I can make it, and you might just influence what is also given out to everyone else.

I'll most likely have five to six varieties to give away, so feel free to suggest what you might want to see as well here.

I look forward to seeing many at FWA!

~Allon the Cookie Dragon

Well, it's been a bit since I gave a life update, and I had planned to do that though had a vet visit this morning. Despite taking MUCH longer than intended, and providing some nice kitty bonding time, it ended with very bad news... my cat, Taeohrue, has cancer. A gold ball sized lump that I thought was just on the outside of his leg, but when sedated you can feel it actually goes to the other side and is a hard mass there.

Naturally, I'm upset, I've cried a good bit already... but I know I'm going to just have to keep up and give him the best I can while he is here. The vet gave me some pain medicine for him, it's in a spot that is hard to treat, large, and the location says it is most likely a type that will easily come back when treated.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6036321/ He has been such a good cat, only between four and five years old too... I love him dearly, he's been my familiar in a way.

I'm commissioning a little ornament from  amethystthedragon for a christmas memory of him. She does very neat wood etched ornaments and boxes, which while they do make excellent Christmas gifts, they are a good little memory as well.

I'll keep watch on him and just do my best that we both enjoy our lives together as much as we can... Live life to the fullest, enjoy those with us, for you never know when that might change.

On other life notes... I did ship out lots of fudge, and had a really great party over at Feryl's this weekend and a nice visit with Brejar as well.

Admitingly I'm not one for posting up or joining in the contests here on FA. In fact I don't think I ever HAVE joined in one of the contests that say "Hey, link to my journal for a chance to win!" sort of things... so no, this isn't going to be a common occurrence coming up. Though this one is different since it is for  crssafox who is just an absolutely wonderful person herself who I want to support in that regard, and she makes really neat things too.

She is running a contest to design your own earred hoodie design. The contest is here. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2914435/ Entering, well just follow the instructions on it, it's pretty simple to do.

You can see a neat example of one of the hoodies here. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6868465/

So, go check it out, join into the contest yourself for something nice to keep you warm in the winter months that are fast encroaching upon us. Furry enough you can wear it to a con, and yet casual enough you can get away with wearing it in standard public too!

She though does wonderful work and if you are looking for some furry pieces look her up, plus she always has a wide selection of tails at her etsy store.

She's a good person, and I support that.

~Allon

Well, today is my first day of major fudge making that I do every year. This year I thought while I often do cookies for art (Or cookies for cookies) I'll offer up fudge as well if anyone is interested.

Plans are right now for Chocolate fudge (Some with nuts)

An Almond Fudge (Something new, so may or may not happen)

A Pumpkin Fudge (Also new for me, so may or may not happen)

White chocolate Fudge

Mint Fudge

Milk chocolate fudge

Peanut Butter Fudge

Nutella Fudge (Also something new for me this year, so if I'm unhappy with it, it won't happen.)


So right now I've got a big bowl of Italian mirangue going on the mixer. Which is basically my home made marshmellow fluff, but it's not pure sugar. It lightens the fudge and gives it a wonderful texture.

The sound of my mixer on High speed seems to make my cats go crazy too...

To make it is easy, mostly. I do recommend a stand mixer for this.

You'll need... 4 Egg whites, 1/2 Tsp Cream of Tartar

Bring the two together in a stand mixer on high until soft peaks.

Bring 1/2 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar to a boil and boil until 240 degrees.

Slowly mix in sugar syrup into the eggs at soft peaks, let mix for another eight to twelve on high in the mixer until the bowl is near room temperature.

Easy, and it mixes in great, or you can eat it, put on bites, make little cookies with it, whatever you like.


Edit: Nutella fudge is DEFINITELY a go. It's very, very tasty, least when warm. I'll make sure it's still good when cooled and sliceable, of course!

Edit: Please be limited to within the U.S. as well, thank you.

I should totally be in bed right now, and I will be soon, but since I just uploaded my pictures I should probably give the update of what happened at Furloween 2011!

It was indeed an awesome time! One of the best dances I've been too, had a lot of great music! Lots of really neat costumes and got to catch up with old and new friends alike, it was very good.

I was glad I helped with setup too. Got there about 1:30 to help with decorations.

I learned what a Blue Long Island Ice Tea was and found out they are VERY good.

I enjoyed being in costume, though it does get hot, I loved dancing in it and having a good time. Though I never got a photo of myself! So if someone out there sees a photo of me I'd appreciate to know about it. I'm the guy in the red and black cloak/robe with golden dragon claws on and a wooden staff, green tunic, knee high leather boots, and shorts... yes shorts... I forgot my proper pants... But hey, it worked okay! It let me have pockets on myself at least that way.

Enjoyed playing balloon volleyball with a dragon on the dance floor.

Bribing the costume contest judges with cookies.

Talking with lots of people.

The food was good and I didn't over do it either.

The picnic the next day was a great time for visiting with others, and that is where the photos came from. My camera isn't that great at dark photos so I didn't take any at the dance itself, though I do wish I had. Maybe next year.

I brought plenty of cookies to the picnic as well, and gave out packed bags of them at the dance as well.

Was a good time! Alas, next con for me? FWA! It seems so long away...

Oh, got a cute Allon statue from Brejar as well! So adorable! Was a late hatchday present. Right now he is nestled in the center of my dragon curio cabinet.

Here is a photo dump of all my photos from the event. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....loween%202011/ You can peruse as you like, I put my favorites up here on FA already, least favorite fursuit related ones. Go look if you like!

Weeeeeeeeee, Furloween was AWESOME, I will totally be there next year (Work permission pending of course! I almost didn't get it this year.)

I'll give more of a report on it tomorrow or in a few days. But I'm home safe and very tired.

Didn't gain any weight during the time too! I was good on my eatting, but they had nice choices that helped, and I could ignore the junk.

Though, awesome time, truly!

Next up in cons? FWA in March... a while away, but the holidays are coming and I'll be busy with making cookies, fudge, candies and the like as gifts for family and friends.

Off shortly to Furloween, I'll be back around on Sunday evening or so! Looking forward to some fun.

Heading over early to help volunteer with the setup of the event, I'm an early riser anyway. I hope I can stay awake long enough and still drive to a hotel! The party starts at 6, I'm usually in bed between 8 and 10pm... Ah well, I'll let the excitement help keep me up.

And some energy drink mixes too.

Oh, and small weightloss update, down to 251 as of Monday on the Fit N' Furry challenge. I started the challenge at 281, so a nice loss so far!

My apologies to those comments and watches I haven't responded to over the past, well, while I think it's been. Thank you for them though, I do appreciate it!

Also apologies to those watching for a lack of recipes. Lately I've not been cooking a whole lot beyond salads and very simple chicken and vegetable dishes of not very photogenic material.

I have though been doing really well in the Fit N' Furry weight loss challenge that  quaylak is hosting over on LJ. ( http://fitnfurry.livejournal.com/ For the page ) and have managed to loose 19 pounds so far in the past three weeks! I'm very happy with this... in fact I was able to put on something today I haven't worn in like ten years.

About ten years ago I went to a ren faire and got some garb at the time and some really nice, wrap around laced up black leather boots that almost up to my knee. Not only do they look nice, but they are comfy, VERY sturdy, and very durable. Sadly I had gotten to big to fit my legs into anymore... well, on a whim I tried them on today (I had been wanting to do a bit of out door exploring, and boots are handy for that) and I squeezed into them... Huzzah! They are tight, but they were tight back then too. Quite comfy though and useful for my exploration walk.

A coworker of mine who visits the neighborhood for one of her best friends lives in the same building I do told me how she walked around and found a trail to what she told me was a nature preserve. I thought, very cool, I must go investigate! I love going out and nature walking... It had several lakes, easy to follow trails, some signs of trucks passing through but beyond that not much else. Lots of trees, I took some photos, lots of animal tracks. Though when I'd gotten about thirty minutes into my walk I hit a dirt road and a couple of SUVs coming down it and then off the road, of which two people in hunter's fatigues got out and one had a talk with me, flashing a police badge.

Seems it is not a nature preserve, or public property at all. He was a nice guy though and didn't even give me a written warning as I was quite obviously just out for a walk and exploring, and had been informed wrong of the area as well. One of the guys even gave me a lift back towards where I came in at and talked a bit about the area. It's private property and they come out there periodically to check for illegal hunting in the area, and generally ask those on the property to get off. I just had my camera, a bottle of water, and my walking stick with me. They found me when I was taking photos of one of the lakes and a few closeups of some of the smaller flowers I found on the water's edge. Glad I didn't get in trouble, though kind of makes me sad I can't walk back there, it's very nice. I may try sneaking just to the closest part of the lake sometime when I just need to get away from civilization. I felt a bit like an explorer back there, walking through trails that one even looked like it was a dried up water path... it was fun, and nice to get out.

I'll have to try the rest of the garb on sometime, perhaps when I loose some more weight... hopefully by Furloween. I'll definitely be going to Furloween, though I still debate if I'll stay the night for the event and attend the picnic the next day. I'd enjoy figuring out a place to stay for the event, and while debating a hotel not fully sure. I'll think on it more as it gets closer, Sunday does have a nice picnic they say!

Still feel like I'm adjusting to being single. I still talk more in we and our, though I suppose I could simply be referring to the cats, heh. It frustrates me a tad since I do want to be my own person after all, though I'm not a fan of being single, but at the same time I'll be very careful about getting into a relationship too.

Work has been nice and busy and well. I enjoyed being the United Way Coordinator for the store once again this year. The store managed to raise almost $18,500 from the associates which is really great! I'm proud to see that and happy so many were so giving. I visited the local United Way and several agencies aided by them to find out about there support, even how much of the money actually goes to places, and was quite happy with what I found out. It's just something I can do to help support others and I enjoy in that I can help be giving to the community.

Back to mostly 5am shifts at work again as well now. Not to bad in that, lets me improve in the bakery, and work on my will power! Heh, I still crave those hot donuts! Mmmm, Hot Apple Fritters. Hot cookies... but I've been good and not snacking on such! Still having plenty of a variety of nutrition though, and that's most important.

Been playing some Single Player games as well. With my Hatchday having happened back on September 7th and I got a little money from it, and a few other little kitcheny things, I got a couple of single player games on the computer. Bastion is one I got from Steam, very good game and one that definitely is awesome for a replay through. Though it definitely isn't long, but I LOVE the fact it's narrated and the narrator's voice is just so great. Picked up a game Avadon: The Black Fortress and if you like game worlds that are very well developed, have a BIG plot and story, and if throughout the whole time you wonder "Am I the good guy, or the bad guy?" It's got a lot of dark aspects to it, a lot of subterfuge and is very well written. It also has turn based combat and tactics really do matter. It's not badly priced at just $10 either, and Steam says I managed FOURTY hours on it... before I beat it, so that's some decent bit of play time there. It won't wow you with graphics, but it's all about the story and the many different choices you have in the game as well are great. Haven't played WoW much lately except occasionally when I've been poked about certain events happening and I'll show up, that's about it for that though.

And following here, some Geeky D&D related stuff!

I've been playing D&D again, usually on Sundays after my work and then on Monday or Tuesday, both being different games but quite the bit of fun. The Sunday game being in a bit of a homebrew world of the DMs making, a low magic world where Alchemy is the basis for the existence of magic. I currently play an Alchemist named Benjamin Tenabrous who is a beast morph specialist for alchemy which makes his mutagens give him more animalistic traits and he gains animal abilities when he uses them. His normal self is a gentlemanly fellow who is a hunchback, pale skin, and half of his face is partially melted and scared over in nasty ways. He is fairly timid, apologetic, and easy to get lost in his work. ((Only a 9 Charisma)) When he drinks his mutagen, in the long run at least but even some now, he turns into his alter ego simply named "Slither" where he becomes covered in red scales, gaining a lizard like muzzle, more muscle, and a lizard like tail, and loosing the scaring and hunchback. His personality becomes brash and course and he speaks with a hiss. His current companions know little of this side beyond seeing it once in a combat. During it he was saving the day and using a Claw / Claw / Bite routine to great effect and tanking down a Flame Drake and her Hatchling while one member was unconscious and the other trying to keep him alive. During the time he is cursing a lot in Draconic and insulting the drake, which neither of the companions know Draconic, nor is he going to translate. It's a very much sort of Jekle and Hyde sort of transformation.

In the Monday / Tuesday game we have less people so we each play two characters, initially being just two players we just gained a third so it might get cut back slightly at some point. Though given how one person plays his second character it's more like having a half character as they just exist as a healing battery, heh.

I play a pair of mated kobolds. Both look almost identical when not in armor, but one is a dual wielding dextrous fighter who usually fights defensively and has a very high armor because of it, and doesn't miss to often either. Though her damage is very low, she can stand toe to toe with most things very effectively.

The other kobold is a draconic blooded sorcerer. So far there main claim to fame is at level 3 I can make them have a 26 AC on short notice so they often can be a tank for the group, though they are quite horrid in actual melee. Level four should make a bit more difference as they'll have another point of Charisma and get access to Flame Breath the spell which should hopefully up there combat deadliness.

The two kobolds are both servants of a large red dragon in a nearby mountain area. He rules over a kobold warrens there and the chieftain had this idea of sending some of the worst of his people out into the world to get killed... course, he told them to go out, get stronger, and come back to be better servants to the glorious master! These two just happen to actually be succeeding.

They currently follow one of the player's characters who is "The boss" they call her for now, and this is an "Evil Lite" game of sorts, heh, which is quite amusing. This game itself is happening in the Pathfinder universe. The newest person brought in two Goblins... so "Shimmer" (Our boss) truly has minions now! Two Goblins, Two Kobolds, and a Goblin Snake who all follow an Elf whos goal in life is to become a drow and bind a succubus to her whims. Such a fun group! The Goblins? They are a Ninja and a Titan Mauler Beserker (A Barbarian who wields a pole arm in each hand.) The Goblin hits really, really hard, he just doesn't hit very often!

Been putting off losing some weight and want some motivation? Well  quaylak may have just that motivation you need, namely in that of ART! Who doesn't like art, and getting into better shape as well?

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2651621/

There is a link to the journal entry. Here is a link to the actual contest over on livejournal. http://fitnfurry.livejournal.com/73777.html

Made me use my Livejournal for a bit that I haven't touched in about a year. Which is all well and good. :)

I managed 55 lbs in ninety days when I initially starting dieting way back using ViSalus. Since then I've managed now about five more pounds (Occasionally it spikes lower, sometimes higher, but generally around the 270 to 275 mark). I have been loosing inches though since I started some exercise, but now that it's gotten so wicked hot outside here in Florida my usual method of walking on my lunch breaks isn't done nearly as much. I'll have to start up some Wii Fit and Wii Sports and DDR workouts at home.


Not much in recipe updates here this week, I've been slacking and on Thursday I went out to lunch with my mother so I didn't get cooking done other than making a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Nothing new on those as I'm personally very happy with my current recipe and follow it without fiddling. :)

Up coming in the next week my Grandmother is coming down for a visit for a week and a half or so plus it'll be my hatching day coming up as well soon too on September 7th. I'm always so mixed on them in feeling.

End of October is Furloween, which I'm definitely looking forward to as well, be nice to get furry again for a bit!

Get furry? Wait, I'm always furry... well, always scaelie, but you get the point, hehe, be nice to be out with some others. Never been to Furloween and not sure what I'll have to do in way of a costume though... I've never been to a holloween party really, maybe I was at one when I was a little kid and I don't recall, but nothing ever in my adult life (Even though I've definitely wanted to be.) Or wait, maybe I was at one but it wasn't really a big costume affair and more of just a get together sort of thing.

Been totally slacking on my Cook Book pages too...

Do have an order for making a Pumpkin Cake for Monday though, which is nice to have that! One of my D&D gaming buddies tried it and said he would pay me for one for the next game session... I said sure to it. He wants extra buttercream icing on it though, heh.

 hali's New song, The Frozen Oasis, is a rather beautiful song too. Many of the new songs that will be coming out on his new album Dexter Peterson are definitely quite awesome.

I wish you all a good day and much happiness! May dragons dance in your dreams and may your belly never want for cookies.

While not quite ready to jump into a full on cooking show on Youtube, I did have fun experimenting with the recent cake I uploaded... Now I think it's a case of just horrible lighting and my camera not being super high quality. I need to see if I can't get an extension USB cable for my Webcam and use that for some pics, it's really great quality.

Anyway, here is a link to the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlbziy27XuE



As of this posting the sound isn't working because the song I uploaded wasn't something they approved of so I currently have it using there services to switch to an authorized audio track (Same song, definitely doesn't sound as good though).

I'll need to see about getting some better lighting though for sure, that would help, or just switching out the camera.

Enjoy though my cake spinning silliness!

Used Windows Live Movie Maker for the text and editing and it seemed to work well.

Oh, and take a look at my paws in the video too...

Just got to say, it's been a good day... Got caught up on house chores (Minus the evil Vacuuming, I can do that tomorrow or Thursday) and prepared quite a few edible delights which I got to post up here... That makes me quite happy in that!

It really is a good destresser for me to be cooking and helps me relax most of the time (Unless I'm just to tired, which happens somedays!)

I'll probably take some of the extra baked goods with me to my work tomorrow so I don't eat everything, maybe swing a few by my parents on my lunch break... or could freeze some of it for the future too... ::ponders::


What are some ways you all like to destress when you have time to relax?

I seem to have beaten con crud with a large dose of vitamins and suckling down Ny Quil every night and having a bottle of Dayquil at my work. Throat is still a touch sore and mild sniffles but nothing too bad.

I actually have some energy today though so I'm going to make use of it and do some cooking I think! Baking in particular, bad as that is for me, heh.

I really need to post up my Cheddar Garlic Biscuit recipe, I haven't done that yet, so maybe I'll be making a batch of those this morning inbetween catching up on house chores I just haven't had the energy to work on since getting back from Megaplex.

How is everyone out there in FA land?

Weeee, I'm back! What a wonderful time it was too! I had a great blast of a time, the staff was wonderful, the people wonderful, and they had great food too! (Fresh Made Sushi, sure I just eat it vegetarian, but it is still very good!)

Got a couple pieces of Allon Art I'll be posting up soon after getting this done here.

I was a Megaplex sponsor and for me it was worth it, between the breakfast and having Sushi in the lounge and also sandwiches one day as well I actually didn't buy any food the whole con.

I helped out a bit here and there too and it really is nice to do that, I try to though anyway because helping makes people happy and that is one of my things, I like to spread happiness. That is what cookie dragons do!

I had brought Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies, and Chocolate chip cookies. I also brought some Buckeyes as well for a few people and one nice sized batch in trade to  amethystthedragon in exchange for a little mini Allon dragon cake and some of her chocolates, and lots of hugs too! She is very huggable and I recommend hugging her if you get the chance. Thank you so much Amethyst for the sweets, they are delicious and so adorable! I'll have a pic of them up as well too. And a thank you for mentioning me in your feedback at the end of the con too, and saying I'm an inspiration and such. You really embarrassed me (In a VERY good way) and it was nice to hear that. I appreciate that I helped to inspire you to become a dealer and sell sweets like that and that I've helped! It's nice to hear that! ::big hugs::

A special thanks out to as well  vopisca and her mate, Jofree, for being my room mates for the con and for her making me this adorably cute Allon dragon curled around a monster cookie! Absolutely so cute! My concerns though to her in that I'll hope she'll be okay, the hotel was giving her allergic break outs and hopefully getting home will help them die down. I came away from the hotel with a horribly sore throat now myself, yuck, makes me wonder if the rooms had mold issues or some such? I don't get con crud to often. Nyquil is going to be my friend later I think.

Vopisca also did a couple of great panels at the convention that I attended as well. They saw quite a good turn out and things that got people to open up and take a look into ourselves and the fandom as well. The fact she is looking at Furry Cyberculture as part of her Anthropology Internship is really great! Thank you for the great panels!

Another thank you goes out to Manny Cartoon (http://mannycartoon.deviantart.com/ He doesn't have an FA, YET... But I am sure he will...) (Edit: He does now  mannycartoon ) who did an awesomely cute pic of Allon the Cookie Dragon landing Super-man style with a platter of cookies, just as a gift to me for all the cookies I ended up feeding to him. Thank you much to him for it! I'll have it posted up soon as well.

Thanks be to  genesisw for great conversation at her table and for her art, and giving me some Perky Jerky! It's caffeinated beef jerky, and it's beef jerky that isn't crazy with salt and tastes really good too! Also she gave me one of her art cards of a dragon eating ramen that I had eyed back at FWA, just as a nice gesture for all the cookie givings I give to others. That is really sweet. Thank you Gen!

A big thank you as well to  romanov and  peanutbutterjellydragonpants for hosting a couple nights of awesome room parties that were fun, casual, and filled with pizza and booze. Thank you much for that, and some great hugs too! P.S. And thank you for letting me help you take away some of the extras too! I think the first con I've ever been to I left with more alcohol than I arrived with... normally I don't bring much, though this year I brought a few things since I had room mates, alas it didn't get touched to much.

Megaplex was a bit of a drinking con for me, I admit... It has fun room parties, nice people, casual, and I brought some along for casual enjoyment. While I don't like using it as a crutch it does help me overcome this occasional bit of shyness I have when I'm not just handing out cookies, I'm not to shy then!

Thank you to  fen-fen For an awesome badge in trade for some cookies to! I need to check with her to see if she made a full scan of him to post up, if she didn't I'll get him scanned and posted.

I was happy my cookie tray went for $25 at the charity auction! It's a smaller tray than what I do at FWA, but it's a smaller convention as well. I probably overall only did about eighteen dozen cookies and some Jumbo cookies in total for the convention as a whole. FWA I do at least twice that much, and have more variety. Maybe next year with Megaplex I can arrange offering Cookie dragon Cookies at a desert event or some such? That could be fun, I really loved that the one fellow was doing Sushi in the sponser's lounge. I loved that.

I took 205 pictures at the convention! You can see them ALL here. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....gaplex%202011/ The only thing I did to modify these is make sure the pictures are facing the correct direction. If you see something you like feel free to snag it, it's a complete photo dump so it has a lot of blurry stuff in there too. Sadly my camera is horribly in low light situations and I can't seem to figure out how to get it to work right. If you see a picture of yourself or a scene you want for putting together memories of Megaplex and want a slightly larger pic let me know and note me here with an e-mail. I can e-mail you the pics from my computer, Photobucket likes to shrink overly large files sometimes. I'll be posting my favorites from the con here on FA once I get them cropped and adjusted in photoshop.

The wedding at the convention was quite neat to see as well! That was really a sweet time.

Matthew Ebel's concert was awesome! I love seeing him preform, he has such great energy on the stage and such a wonderful singing voice and performance skills... Plus, well, he's real! Even at one point when the audience caused him to slip up in distraction he laughs it off, makes a comment, and goes right back into things. He doesn't try to hide it or cover up, I like that. Looking forward to his next album, especially since he preformed one of the new songs as well on the stage which was great. I admit I "Tried" to be sneaky and have my camera record it via video recording... sadly, it was after shortly into the song that my camera decided "Change my batteries, NOW!" And conked out. I changed and recorded some more after that. No though, I won't post it up anywhere. I'll covet it on my computer to listen to since it hasn't been actively published yet I won't go posting it on the net, that would be disrespectful to the artist! I'll definitely be buying the album though when it comes out.

I really enjoyed the Retro Arcade theme as well... Though to that, all I can really say is... Joust... I loved Joust the game and the fact they had a Joust machine there brought back memories. It also made me realize how unpracticed I was, but I picked up some tips from Chad Krueger that helped improve my game... but I could come no where near his top score from 130K that he had up there... he's damn good at the game!

Enjoyed Uncle Kage's Story hour, as always, and I'm really glad they had him on at a Late Hour, it let Kage be slightly more tipsy than usual I think going onto stage. What's not to love in that? He's always hilarious to listen to.

Loved the Hot Sauce Challenge that Gryfter was hosting after the con was over. My word, that "Vicious Viper" hot sauce is amazingly hot... Even one drop and BAM! The pain, it hurts so good!

The Sniff tracks event they held after the JR's Comedy show (Which was also amusing, it took me a moment to get into his humor but once I did he had me laughing a good bit!) was pretty neat! I didn't stay for the whole thing, but it really does wonders to break ones childhood when we look at things like the old Super Marior Brother's Super Show cartoon and just how WRONG some of it can be if you don't look at it innocently. If I had to make a comment to the event that might have been more negative it would be I actually would have enjoyed being able to hear the actual movie just a little more over the volume of the commentators, yet at the same time it's the commentators that make it hilarious.

Overall just having to say it was a really great time! Thank you to  megaplex Staff as well as all the friends I made, both new and old, there are MANY of you I met to the point I can't really go naming more names here properly. Thank you everyone for helping to make this dragon feel good and special and quite happy.

I look forward to next year's Megaplex! Anyone have cookie suggestions they would want to see? Oh yes that reminds me...

I did bring some Maple White Chocolate bacon cookies with me, and they proved to be a surprisingly good hit with a lot of people, once they got over the idea that there was Bacon in a cookie.

Bacon!