Volunteered at my local Pride event today. Two things can be true at once: that corporations use Pride nowadays to promote their products, but nonetheless it's one of the rare times each year I see such a large gathering of queer people and our allies. I also still like seeing the different flags flown.

Despite everything going on in the world and my personal unhappy moments of last year, I can say with confidence that 2022 was my best year yet in life. I cultivated new friendships with people furry and otherwise and finally accepted the "in-laws" as family like I was born to them. Took more efforts to cultivate relationships with my normie friends as well. And that was all possible because of the consistent, trauma-informed therapy I've undergone since October 2021. I resolve to be in the mental health community one way or another until the day I die.

I want to know myself better and to take care of my own needs - to put ME first. I have such a strong pull to advocate for others, yet so much in life have put myself last. Now more than ever I understand that analogy of needed to put your own oxygen mask on first before you can help others. So more meetups, more parties, more hot baths, more cuddle time with the mate and the pets. Less judging myself because my life deviates from the norm.

I admit it, I want my life to be an ethnically, racially and sexually diverse Norman Rockwell painting. I hope 2023 will get me a step closer to that.

I hadn't even realized we've gone to four MFFs in a row now! It's the one big con I get to go to each year (at least so far), so they're always memorable experiences.

Funny how MFF is so exciting when the drive there is so boring! Just billboards, Cracker Barrels and churches to see. Well I did like seeing the marijuana dispensaries along the way.

Clearly a huge chunk of people get in the con Thursday, it took me two hours to get through the covid vaxx check line, but a friend told me when he went down to reg Friday morning it was practically empty. Thursdays are always spent wandering around and refamiliarizing myself with the con layout. I think this year I've finally got my mental map of the convention center space down. Objectively the largest furry convention in the world...doesn't use a lot of it. Some folks want the con to move but I doubt we'll ever outgrow the Donald Stephens Convention Center. The hotel room situation on the other hand, now THAT is a shitshow.

This was the first year I did the 'meet up with people I've only talked to online' thing. I used to scoff at that but I get it! For some of us it's not easy finding people we're on the same wavelength with. If we find a friend that just happens to live across the country, so be it. These friends are from Texas, Pennsylvania and Washington state. In another life where it wasn't such a pain in the ass for me to get vacation time maybe I'd go to these places.

I for one like the chaos of MFF, because I'm not bored. I liked sometimes just walking around and seeing what cute suits I stumbled across. Saw more than a few of the fandom's 'popufurs' but didn't feel the urge to get photos or anything. Unfortunately didn't get to say hi to all the locals I know, but with 13,000 attendees I had a good excuse.

Didn't attend as many panels as I wanted to but I did do well at karaoke. I wasn't nearly as nervous doing that as I was last year. I thank my therapists and my consistent work on my own self-confidence.

Got Shiny Sponsor again and enjoyed the Shiny Sponsor reception like always. If you don't know, that's a meal served inside Ventanas, a restaurant at the very top of the Hyatt that has huge open windows and rotates so you can see the Chicago skyline. You can totally see downtown from there! But most importantly, they served sushi. :P The Hyatt's breakfast buffet is delicious and I took advantage of that every morning except Saturday (that's Sponsor Brunch day). Not cheap though at about $25/person. The dinner buffet is EXTREMELY mediocre.

Went to the Dealer's Den a couple times and got a few prints. I'm kind of running out of space in the house to be getting a bunch of merchandise anymore. Barely got to browse Artists' Alley as there was actually a long line to enter the space. I'm not sure if the new Fursuit Corner was a success...they seemed pretty isolated in that little room.

Didn't Gopher (volunteer) like I thought I would either, but I did help security a bit Sunday night as the con was closing. Got worried for the suiters outside the front of the Hyatt, they were dangerously close to the cars picking up/dropping off people.

This is the second year we've stayed to Monday and the first I decided to explore before we left Monday afternoon. Sucks going from seeing hundreds of colorful animals to everyone congregating dragging their luggage. It looked so...normal ;_; The drive home was uneventful, getting everything out of the car a little more of an adventure. I actually haven't suffered from much PCD. Thursday night through Monday morning is enough time for me to look forward to getting back home. And we've got a dog and cat waiting for us!

So I'd give my MFF 2022 experience a 12/10! I love my one time of the year wear I willingly throw myself into the chaos. <3

Taking this holiday to try to relax. Helps that I already did celebrations last week.

I went to see Strange World yesterday. It's okay. But it's been both kinda funny and kinda worrying seeing certain elements flip out because oh noes! The main kid character is a gay boy. We certainly have made strides towards acceptance (I know there's a long way to go still), because the only gay characters I saw in Disney movies when I was a kid were coded gay villains like Scar and Jafar. The righties are already pissed about Ariel being Black in the new remake too.

In a world that's increasingly falling apart I'm just grateful my personal situation hasn't gotten any worse.

I can't blame furries for largely going to Twitter, the way it operates is great for people like us, many of whom are neurodivergent and love the dopamine kick likes over there get you, but, yaaaaaah...one musky man can buy your platform and potentially ruin it. The great downside to the "Wild West" internet of the turn of the century being tamed is that we're as dependent on a few platforms owned by billionaires as we were way back in the day when TV only had three channels.

Happy Veterans Day to all who have served. More than a few military furries out there so hopefully it's been a good day for all of those folks.

Well since Twitter may be slowly going tits up I might choose to make FA journals from time to time. Or not, depends on what I feel like saying on here. One definite advantage here is the lack of a character limit on posts.

Main thing going on right now is my increasing excitement over MFF. Every year I overplan and only succeed in doing at most half of what I wanted to do, but it's always a great time. I know I'll be able to relax and enjoy it that much more, after having been doing therapy regularly for a year. Less lamenting that I didn't attend this or meet that person and more spontaneity.

Fine, it's midterms day in the US so I'll mention that I voted. Too early to either celebrate or jeer whatever the results will be. I do think my polling place had more people than usual, I'm sure Jan 6th did something to arouse some of the otherwise apathetic.

I like how my Twitter life is going. I've kept at it and I'm finding my little community there where we can share art, talk current events and get caught up in our feelings. I'm not doomed to have to conform myself to normie inanity.

I'm glad a decision I made over a decade ago (making an FA page) is paying off for me.