Everyone in my house, myself and my two renters all caught the plague last weekend. Thankfully we all have mild cases. I felt like crap for a day or two and right now all I have left is an occasional cough. Well, that is until my sense of taste went away earlier this evening. That's a pretty common symptom, but I'll take it over the fever or other symptoms coming back.

I've had all the shots and maybe it would be much worse if I hadn't had them. Luckily this happened at a time when it didn't interfere with any cons or family travel. It still sucks but what do you do? This thing is really contagious. I think we all (myself and my renters) had it before anyone knew they were infected.

This is why I haven't posted anything in a few days. Being sick takes a lot out of you. It's hard to get motivated.

I'm a GSFC this weekend. If you're here too and want to talk, look for the guy in the poison headcrab hat in the corner of the dealer's room area. As far as I can tell the only drawing space at this little con is the unused tables there. I usually have a plug in desk lamp but the main thing to look for the is big black spider looking thing on my head. 83

Soooo, I installed Krita and was trying to use it to color a drawing, and it had the same pressure sensitivity problem as PSE. I got out my spare Wacom stylus and it worked just fine in PSE. I replaced the tip on the bad stylus and now it's working too. So it was a tempest in a teapot. I've never had a stylus tip cause a lack of pressure sensitivity in 24 years of PSE, but here we are.

I appreciate all the advice and I have Krita now if I need it, but at the moment I don't. I may tinker with it to get used to for when PSE does blow up on me. Thanks for the help, and I apologize for wasting your time. 83

I've been using Photoshop Elements for over twenty years. My old reliable PSE 2 (from 1998) won't work on Windows 10 so I bought PSE 2021 a couple of years ago. It has had recurring problems related to my old Wacom tablet. Now, the last time this happened I got technical support from Adobe and sorted it out, but the problem is back and the bot won't connect me to help because I don't have a "Plan". As far as I can tell "help" is now a paid subscription service from Adobe. I am unwilling to pay ten dollars a month forever on the chance I may have a problem with whichever art program I am using, so it's time to bite the bullet and get a different art program. Is SAI still a thing, or GIMP?

The cancellation of this year's Further Confusion caused  mozdoc and I to look for a replacement con, and that con is TFF. I've never been to it before. Hopefully I'll meet some friends who I never met in person before. We're flying in tomorrow and back Monday so we are there for the whole con.

After a few hours of playing ER I have to say it feels more like an Elder Scrolls game or even a Zelda game than a DS game. Riding around on a horse (sorta) in a huge open world just doesn't feel like DS.

This morning my monitor went pinkish a few times so I rebooted my year-old PC and now it won't boot up. I've tried swapping monitors and whichever one is connected to my main computer stays blank while monitors swapped to my old computer work. The computer sounds like it's not spooling up all the way, which probably means it's detecting an issue and refusing to start. I will take it to a shop Monday. Luckily I hadn't trashed my old computer so I can use it until the problem is resolved. My main computer is only a year and a bit old so hopefully whatever has gone bad is under warrantee.

Friendly Beach rules and guidelines

ADULTS ONLY. NO PETS. Pets and children tend to annoy the animals, and then they tend to disappear.
No one needs the hassle.

Rule Zero: Most of the people who come here never fuck an animal or end up inside one. If all you want
to do is surf or beachcomb, there is no rule against that. The rest of these rules are for everyone else.
Most of the really squicky stuff happens under the pier. Don't be shocked if you go there and see...things.

Rule 1. Some local animals are more challenging lovers than others. Plan how you're getting around a
“That's never going to fit” or “I didn't bring the right tool for this job” problem. The animals know
what's going on. You'll work it out.

Rule 2. Rent a translator (rebreather) mask if you want to talk to the animals. The animals here are
unusually smart and some can understand you even without a mask, but you won't be able to understand
them without a mask or other means. Above the water, translation apps for phones are available.

Rule 3. Get to know your prospective lover or predator before you commit. It prevents
misunderstandings.

Rule 4. Don't offer yourself as lover or prey to an animal unless you mean it. A good number of them will
take you up on it and once they start, they are going to want to finish. And don't complain to the beach
patrol afterward. Your right to complain about the situation you got yourself into ends with the burp or
when you let that otter climb on top of you.

Rule 5. Don't expect to get your stuff back if it gets swallowed. There are lockers near the beach,
including code lock lockers. Key lockers are available but there's the obvious problem of “My key is
inside that dolphin”. Plan ahead.

Rule 7. You can buy digestible clothing on the pier. Think of the poor animal and what will happen to your
shoes before you stick your head in anyone's mouth. With this, the lockers and the changing rooms you
can be considerate to the animals and make sure you get your stuff back.

Rule 8. Not everyone is that considerate. You can buy “recovered” clothing on the pier. Don't worry, it's
been washed. Thoroughly.

Rule 9. Once it's swallowed, it stays swallowed. Only under extraordinary circumstances will an animal be
asked to cough a swallowed person up. This is to prevent shenanigans such as someone with devious plans
for an exact (but dead) copy of themselves.

Rule 10. Some beach denizens will flirt (or nibble) aggressively. If that flirting or nibbling makes you
uncomfortable, it's time to leave, or to ask them to stop. If your feet are in their mouth and you're not
into that it's DEFINITELY time to ask them to stop.

Rule 11. If your face is in someone's gullet, it's probably too late to say “no,” Ask for feet-first if you
want part of the experience, but want to retain the ability to ask them to stop. (This works best with
the hybrids. Some animals will decide they can't understand you at the most inconvenient moment.)

Rule 12. This is a friendly beach. It is the ONLY friendly beach where people reform when eaten. Some
locals take that to mean they can take advantage of visitors. Rules 4, 10 and 11 are relevant.

Rule 13: Most of the rules boil down to “Know what you're getting into before you do.” Talk to the
locals. See who's safe and fun to visit with. Decide what you want to do and how far you want to go
before you get yourself into a situation where the choice is no longer yours.

Rule 14. There are several hybrids on the beach. They are the result of people not using protection. It is
very, very unlikely that an animal can knock up a human or vice versa. But since most of the animals have
some Mer ancestry, it's not impossible. A female animal isn't going to care if you knock her up, but you
can't get child support from a sea lion. Condoms for local animals and instructions as to how to put them
on are available on the pier. So are “score cards” for keeping track of your accomplishments.

Note: Many of these rules apply to Tame Camp, except people don't reform there. Most of these rules
also apply to other friendly beaches and similar places except that here, being eaten is anything from a
fun pastime to a momentary inconvenience. Because of this, as rule 12 mentions, some denizens think it is
all right to take liberties. If that happens, report it. Between the beach patrol and the other animals,
who don’t want their sweet deal messed with, offenders are convinced to mend their ways or leave.
Particularly bad offenders will be dealt with by either the patrol or the other animals.

Urbanhermit! Now there's a name I've known for a while. Back in the day he churned out a ton of sketchy vore and then he had a bunch of commissions done by an artist I like. Very big on sneks eating things. Ryproar is also a familiar name as he's been commenting on my stuff for years. Bruhbot I don't know but two out of three names I'm familiar with is better than I do most years. 83

It was bound to happen at some point. At least I got to go to several cons in between waves of the plague.

******

 mozdoc and I have a room in a hotel right across the street from the main con hotel. This is no farther away from the con spaces than the main hotels. (The two main FC hotels both have con stuff in them and are a block apart. Our hotel, I believe, is close to the more con heavy end of the complex).

The one downside to staying with us is we area leaving Sunday. Our hotel has been completely inflexible about extending our dates and I work that Monday anyway. Not much happens at FC Monday anyway.

At the moment it is just the two of us and expense is a consideration. If we don't find at least one more roomie we may just not go. So no pressure, but if you need a place to crash for most but not all of the con days, we can put you for a share of the room costs.

Alternately, if you have two spaces in your room and would like to have two more roomies from Thursday until Sunday, we are up for abandoning our room and staying with you.

It's that time again! Enter by replying to this raffle. Only reply once, and don't reply to other replies. (This simplifies my job when I roll for winners.) Don't number your entry, I will do that myself. I'm going to put up a "raffle warning" image in my gallery too so people who don't look at journals have a better shot at getting in.

On the 5th (or so) st of January I will use a dice roller to roll for two winners. Each winner gets to ask me to draw something. You don't need to put your request in your initial reply to the raffle, but you can if you want. Odds are I will have questions about references, etc., that will cause me to send you PMs about it anyway.

The requests do not have to be vore drawings. They could be something like a profile picture of your character. I do ask that the requests not be tremendously complicated. I will negotiate with the winners on this subject should I decide the requested drawing is too labor intensive. It's not as though you are paying me to draw, after all. 83

Over five hundred miles of driving in one day. A new record for me and an unwelcome one. It's 400 miles to BLFC at the best of times and having to divert to the East to avoid heavy snow on our route, plus making one wrong turn partway along, didn't help. The good news is the weather was pretty (clouds and light rain are nicer to drive through than blinding desert sun) and there was a lot of cool desert landscape to look at. Just the same, my gas pedal leg is still sore. I'm not used to having to fill up my car more than once to do one day's driving.

BLFC was fun and I got a lot of drawing done. Ran into  stalbon, some Prancing Skiltaire folk and some other furs I know. Everyone liked the headcrab hat. Everyone always likes the headcrab hat.

It's sucking up all my time. I tend to get hooked on certain games and play them every waking minute. It happened with the original D2 and now it's happened with the remaster.

The annoying thing is I still have a lot of stuff I want to draw and I wake up in the morning with a cool idea, then I sit down to play D2 for "Just a little while" and the next thing I know it's ten at night. One of these days I'll draw something again. Sooner or later. 83

Mozdoc, I and another fur are rooming at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno in a few weeks. We could use a fourth person so the individual expense is less. We are quiet furs who use the room to sleep and little else, no parties or sex. If you're interested, reply here or reach me on Discord at Woozletania #6484.

Denfur was fun. Masks were mandatory and the registration lines were terrible right up until Saturday morning. I should have known to wait until then to register but I was an idiot and stood in line for two hours.

Expect masks to be mandatory for cons going forward for quite a while. I didn't see many people I know, either. The Prancing Skiltaire crew was there but there were a lot of young furs who didn't know me from Adam and didn't seem to hang around in the public area and draw. Maybe the younger furs were there to party. There was also no art show and no fursuit parade. Just the same, it was a good con and I got some drawing done. It's a lot easier to be productive when the TV and computer aren't constantly distracting me and I'm in a con environment where I feel guilty if I don't get something done. 83

I am off to Denfur tomorrow. The last con I went to was Painted Desert Fur Con (Phoenix, Arizona) over a year ago. I've been in a bit of a an art doldrum lately so hopefully this will shake me out of it. If you're there, look for the guy with a big black spider on his head. (Poison headcrab hat). I'll likely be in the common drawing area.

Quite a few of my family members have tested positive for Covid. No one is particularly sick due to vaccination in the older people and robust health in the kids. Still, it goes to show that if you hang around an infected person a lot you may get it even if you're vaccinated. It probably won't hurt you much, but you aren't immune to getting it.

The catalytic converter theft was a roller coaster. The dealer told me the things were just not available and the car would be out of service for months. Then they found an aftermarket source. Then it turned out there was additional damage to the pipes and they still couldn't fix it for months. I bought the CC and the oxygen sensors that were also stolen and went to a muffler shop...and the shop promptly said it was the wrong CC even though the dealership and auto parts store was sure it was fine. Then it turned out the muffler shop had an appropriate CC and it was half the price of the other one. When all was said and done my car got fixed in a week and I actually made a profit due to the insurance payout being based on the dealership estimate.

But I still have to have the car inspected due to the new CC, and the place I have to go is an hour and a half away. This CC theft is the gift that keeps on giving.

So here's the chain of events. We had a two week family get together planned in Pennsylvania, a nice green land where the next generation up owns some land.

Then my dad, already frail and in very poor health, suffers a major downturn. He goes into hospice. I go to PA while my sisters stay behind, knowing he's only got a few days. I go ahead to get things set up while we plan the funeral. This part goes as expected, lots of family members, bring Dad back to the farm one last time (dead). I buy a smoker for the farm, everyone likes the ribs and pulled pork. I make brownies, zucchini bread (don't worry, it doesn't taste like zucchini) and pumpkin bread, which everyone appreciates.

Then the day before we're due to leave, two people in the farmhouse test positive for Covid. One is vaccinated, even. I'm exposed. I probably am not facing any major health issues even if I get it. Vaccination and all. Still, it's a major annoyance. I had stuff I wanted to do at work this week.

Then I get home and my car starts with a mighty roar. Someone stole the catalytic converter while it was in the airport shuttle parking lot. No shops open late on Saturday, so I am without a car for a few days. At least insurance should cover most of it.

The dad part was expected. The Covid and car, not so much. Seems a bit mean spirited of existence to harass a woozle at a time like that. 83

50 just wasn't enough given my many settings and characters. An increase to 75 is greatly appreciated. Of course it'll mean some work for me, but folderizing things isn't that hard. Especially as I've already done a lot of the work. I will need to decide what the new folders should be, but increasing them by 75 leaves some leeway to make mistakes. One folder I need that springs to mind is one for my various Project stuff. I had forgotten about that until now and there are quite a few stories and images that should fill that folder nicely.

I will dispatch PMs to the three winners. I am currently working on a raffle winner from a previous year that never got done, and then two from my Eka's raffle, after which I will work on these three. As often happens I don't know any of these winners from Adam, which should show that the rolling is honest and unbiased. 83

It's that time again! Enter by replying to this raffle. Only reply once, and don't reply to other replies. (This simplifies my job when I roll for winners.) Don't number your entry, I will do that myself. I'm going to put up a "raffle warning" image in my gallery too so people who don't look at journals have a better shot at getting in.

On the 1st of January I will use an online dice roller to roll for two winners. Each winner gets to ask me to draw something. You don't need to put your request in your initial reply to the raffle, but you can if you want. Odds are I will have questions about references, etc., that will cause me to send you PMs about it anyway.

The requests do not have to be vore drawings. They could be something like a profile picture of your character. I do ask that the requests not be tremendously complicated. I will negotiate with the winners on this subject should I decide the requested drawing is too labor intensive. It's not as though you are paying me to draw, after all. 83

One last thing, should the winner not reply to my PMs or otherwise be reachable for two weeks after the 1st, I will roll a new winner. Believe it or not, this has happened SEVERAL times in the last decade. Mostly in my holiday raffle on Eka's, but still.

Since I haven't been able to go to furry cons lately due to the plague, I decided to treat myself to a new computer. Sadly I decided to go with a Windows 10 system and Win 10 doesn't like some of my stuff. It's been a considerable pain getting my scanner to work and Win10 won't acknowledge the existence of my ancient copy of Photoshop Elements 2 at all. I have a (not quite as old) copy of PSE 11 which does work, but it has numerous aggravating features such as a bottom of screen popup I have to minimize every single time I select a new tool. To keep from shooting a vein out of my forehead I should try something else.

I've tried SAI but as I recall it lacks printer or scanner functionality and only works with SAI files. I don't want to jump through those hoops. Any other free or cheap art programs I should try?

...lately, it's not because I am depressed or sick. It is just that the lack of furry cons makes it hard to get motivated. I'm still drawing, but I've gotten lazy in other ways. Most notably, I am very very bad about answering my PMs here and on other sites. So it's not you, it's me. 83

(I'm referring to  Cougar1823, an old friend of mine. His character appeared in a number of my early works and to this day, if you see an anthro cougar getting eaten in one of my pics it's probably him.

Cougar, as those of you who are his friends know, has been stricken with early onset Parkinson's for some years now. His disease has progressed to the point that he lives in an assisted living facility. Tonight he called me to let me know that he is under a lot of stress, partly from the Parkinson's, partly the plague and partly the riots. As a result he's voluntarily checking himself into a mental institution so he he'll be away from some of the stressors and so nothing else bad will happen.

Hopefully he'll self-release soon. If you are concerned and want to reach him, he should still have his phone while in. He asked me to put up a blurb here to let his friends know as he and I have a lot of mutual friends.

 mozdoc and I arrive Thursday the 16th and leave Monday evening. We’ll be checking out of the room Monday but if whoever we room with wants to take over the room and stay longer that’s an option. Reply here or PM me if you’re interested.

Oh yes, we're in the Hilton, one of the two main con hotels. (They are at opposite ends of the convention center.)

I don't know any of you from Adam. This should be proof I don't cheat on my rolls. I'll dispatch the appropriate PMs. 83