I was released from my responsibilities on the 14th.
New Boss (the mill was bought out) decided "it isn't working out."
Yay.

I have a speeding ticket to pay for ($1200) and to top all off, the PT is STILL overheating. The more that has been done, it is beginning to appear the heads are warped($4500). Oh, there's the possibility the temperature sensor is bad($750), but...
Water pump and thermostat have both been replaced
the coolant is NOT milky in color, but it does have copper-colored particles in it... even though both radiator hoses feel very hot to the touch
Yeah, the power steering fluid is low (VERY low) but the real issue is the overheating. I'm limited to 5 mile (10km) one-direction trips so long as I allow the car to cool for at least one hour afterwards.

SNAFUBAHR -- Situation, Normal. All fucked up beyond any hope of recovery!!!

Yep. I lost yet another job. The holidays hit and I couldn't keep up with the demand at the abattoir, so they cut me loose the weekend before Thanksgiving. I was unemployed and scrambling for 35 days before my sister saw an advert from a local farm feed mill.
I went over to the place in person and asked for a paper application as demanded by their ad. I had barely gotten halfway through the application when the office manager gave me her phone to speak with the owner. He hired me on the spot!
I started work the next day.

As for cars, my 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser has been in a rough place since I bought it from a pharmacy one year ago. Transmission issues, worn out tie rods, brakes that are BURNED, worn out front axle bearings, and bad tires, have plagued me the last year. The situation came to a head when I blew two flat front tires from the bad tie rods in less than a month. Enough was enough. I was discussing the situation with my coworkers and one offered to sell me his 2001 Limited Edition PT Cruiser. I took the offer and two months later the car is finally out of the shop and back in my hands.

y'know that moment when you discover your bosses are a group of complete scumbags?
Yeah.
August 29th. Four minutes before end of shift, my boss comes up to me, rags me out over my work -- which was TWICE the work done by all three other shifts COMBINED (for $3 USD LESS, I might add!)-- then says, "You're done! Come in tomorrow so the Plant Manager will know and NOT file your paperwork!"
I'm sorry... you want me to drive AN HOUR -- ONE way -- JUST so you can fire me and not file the paperwork with the State? Uhm, NO.

You c'n take this job and SHOVE it!!

I was hired by my local abattoir three weeks later.
I dislike working in the cold, but employment is employment.

One of the artists I commissioned in the last 18 months,  WildKicheko is running a raffle. It is furs only, no humans. https://www.furaffinity.net/view/55800570/

Working as a glorified janitor at the cotton mill sux.
$15 an hour, twelve hours a day, seven days out of fourteen. It barely pays the bills, but it's better than so many folks out there have.

MEANWHILE...
Try out this raffle being run by an artist I'm Watching: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/55320842/

Two days before Labor Day 2023.
My Shift Lead calls me into the office just before end of my routine 12hr overnight shift. NATURALLY, if I am the one gettin' called into the Office, S**T has hit the fan and I am in a Jurassic Park 1-sized pile of it, so I assume I am going to get fired.
Boyo, was I ever mistaken. (Thank Christ -- and I MEAN that!)
Dave, our Head of Maintenance, asks me if I am still interested in becoming a Technician. I was so taken by surprise, I couldn't speak for a good ten seconds. When I finally stammered out that, YES, yes I was, he reached over his cluttered desk and shook my hand. "Congratulations, Tyger, you start training on Dayshift next Wednesday. Close out this weekend as a Drawframe Operator, then come to work ready to be a Carding Machine Tech."

I was on Cloud 30 the whole of September (vehicle problems not included) as I was FINALLY in a position I am inclined to. The Techs all thought I was doing well, fitting in; I thought I was just screwing around and up 90% of the time...

Then I get called into the Office again on Tuesday, Oct 9th, 2023.
I'm told the bosses have "safety concerns" due to my Asperger's and short fuse. I'm back to Drawframe Operations.

I went home end of shift, and got drunk as a form of pouting like a child.

oh THANK Jehovah!!
I MEAN IT TOO!!
Okay, so Court was 3 June, 2021. I arrive and await my turn, masked, gloved, face-shielded, hair-covered and FUMING over it all. The only thing they DIDN'T require was a full-body HAZMAT suit!! *Insert anti-government STUPIDITY rant here* ...and I thought *I* took things overboard to the extreme.

As it turns out, the gracious Widow Denton had written a letter to the County DA, the STATE DA, AND the GOVERNOR!! In it, she requested the State not sentence me to jail, nor take any action that would impinge upon my life in any way, as that would have been what the late Mr. Harvey Denton wanted. She informed the Court she hoped--in the event the roles were reversed--MY family would have done the same, as her GRANDSON is also on the Autistic Spectrum. The DA, having finished his dictation of the letter, looked up and said, "Your Honor, if it please the Court--in light of these words by the Family of the Deceased--the Office of the District Attorney moves the charge of Misdemeanor Death By Motor Vehicle be reduced to Reckless Driving, and the 30 days jail sentence be SUSPENDED."

HOLY RUSTED METAL, BATMAN!!

The judge told Mrs. Denton, WHO WAS IN THE COURTROOM!! that he and Mr. Denton's lodge-brothers missed Harvey, and agreed with the DA. I was fined $310 USD, and sent on my way. However, I was warned that if I got into serious legal issue again before June 2022 I would serve 30 days lock-up as well as any further incarceration required.

Needless to say, I was the figurative deer in headlights.

Well... Court was again put on continuance until the 9th of April, THEN continuanced AGAIN to the 8th of July...
GOOD NEWS is the prosecuting attorney is in communication with my lawyer to reach a resolution BEFORE the date of court, AND the family of the late Harvey Denton(the man who was killed) is petitioning the Court as well.
pictures of my latest kit will be up soon...ish.

Welp, THE PLANK didn't work out as planned, so it is still under wraps and not available for images juuuuuuuuuust yet. We enlisted the help of a distant cousin who is highly skilled at painting, and he's been having a few issues with THE PLANK itself. Eh, c'est la vie, non?

Studio operations were NOT put on hold at all because the legal issues discussed in previous journals were rescheduled--TWICE!!--to March 31, 2021.

I got "The Scotsman" for Christmas 2020--a kit I have been eyeing since July. It's an electric resonator guitar based on a Gibson 335 and, well... it's had a number of issues so far. SO MANY that I'm convinced it's a prototype run of TWO.
(Mine is kit number 162, the one that WAS pictured on the www.the fretwire.com website was number 161... and the kit style was TAKEN DOWN as of mid-December 2020 after having been Sold Out.)
I'll try and get some photos up by Tuesday.

Well, all the legal crap got moved to March 31, 2021...

yay...?
What is DEFINITELY NOT yay is the convention I was looking forward to was completely cancelled. They CLAIM my tickets will be good next July, but we all saw how well the best laid plans of mice and men survived 2020...

Yes, that's MULTIPLES!!
"TygerWolf Studios" is a garage-project atm, much like Apple was, but we nave two projects for the year: The first is hush-hush TOP SECRET known-only-to-immediate-family Codenamed: THE PLANK; the second is a First Act Volkswagen GarageMaster that needs a factory's worth of TLC to get it up and running at top-notch again, but it's the side-project for while we await parts and funds.
As for that "WE" bit--my father, T. Amos Potter DVM, is my CDE or Chief Design Engineer. Yep Father-Son operations.

I've discovered I need side-projects to get me through being broke and partless, so "The Bug" is going to be that while THE PLANK awaits parts, paints, etc. SADLY, I cannot keep you guys posted with progress on THE PLANK until next April if things go the way I fear they will, so please be patient with me.

No matter what, Studio operations WILL be taking a TOTAL hiatus for the two weeks surrounding Nov 4, 2020, as I will be dealing with legal issues from earlier in the year, as well as the weekend of Dec 10th-13th for GalaxyCon-Raleigh. Hope to see you all there.

As the great Billy Gibbon said, "Play it in the key of G-Demolished..." and stay FURRY, my friends.

My kit guitar got me FIVE faves in 8 hours?! Holy cow!
THANK YOU GUYS!!!

I just did a thing that I can now neither un-see nor not remember.
I Googled the lyrics to the Macarena then Googled "Kilted Jedi"... I have hilarious regrets.
This chain of unfortunate events reminded me of the story I heard about the Baltimore chapter of the 101st Stormtrooper Legion at the Annapolis Renn Faire Day of Wrong. They all got a little shnockered and decided it would be (to quote THE MUMMY) "a VERY goodtime!" to organize a Conga Line and do the movements of the Macarena while vocalizing the Imperial March.
Needless to say, when I heard the tale, I saw the events so vividly, I poured my remaining mead out of my drinking horn, saying, "NOPE."

DAY FOUR

Relief from the rain is on the horizon, but the REAL danger is now at hand: FLOODING. With Florence dumping some 60" (152.4cm for our metric-using friends) of rain PER DAY over the last few days, rivers and creeks are on the rise from rainwater runoff. For those of us between Raleigh, NC, and the Outer Banks, for your safety and the safety of Rescue Personnel, PLEASE DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH STANDING WATER!!!!

Florence made landfall around 0714hrs EDST this morning. Here in Dunn, the conditions are similar to a "Light Shower" in Lawton, OK: 40mph winds, 3in per hour rainfall. (Lived there from 88-93)...

200+ people have already required rescue from LEOs/First Responders as they were too stupid to evacuate from the coast when ordered to do so.

Pray for North/South Carolina.

My sister got the house on 8-27-2018.

We look forward to our tentative move-in date of October 6th.

As of 05-30-18, my sister Nikki, has been looking for a home in NC, USA, for herself and me. Today, 08-25-18, we found a house that has hit every note --so far-- and have made an offer.
Prayers, energies, good vibes... all are desired.

OKay, So I lost my job at the Grocery store in August of last year, thanks to my lack of desire to be sugar-coating-nice to a customer DEMANDING we serve them ten minutes after closing down. I was unemployed all of a WEEK and was hired by a semi-national chain, BOJANGLES. a few months later, I got a job at Greg's Pizza of Johnson City. Soon, however, two jobs became too much to deal with and Greg's Pizza offered me full-time hours.
I took the offer.
My father then suffered a MAJOR heart attack on June 28th 2018. I raced to Raleigh, NC, where he had been sent, arriving in under 4 hours. Yes, VASHP, I tore through your Communist state at nearly 90mph. BITE ME. (My father, T. Amos Potter DVM, is recovering well, as there were a great many factors involved in an EXTREME speed of reaction by the EMS.)
Still in shock, and having worked my final shift at Greg's Pizza (even though I had intended to work another week after my family's vacation to Topsail Island, NC), I started looking for a job. First employer, first application.
HIRED ON SPOT
I now work for J & M Heating and Air of Dunn, NC, where my parents live, and am living in their house.

I GOT THE JOB AT THE LOCAL GROCERY STORE!!!

I know I'm not an artist, and my tastes are limited, myopic, and overly-exclusive (all things said in notes from folks who simply have little more to do than send hate-mail to people about whom they neither care nor know anything about.) I am neither an artist, nor a prolific writer. I haven't been influenced by very many, have never been to a Con, nor do I really have any manner of disposable income to change any of that.

However, I'm not completely without sympathy.
The other day, a man who has influenced many passed away. Doug Winger is not an artist I watch, but he's influenced many I do. I'm sorry.
I've lost Senpai before, myself, and it's neither easy to take, nor get over. Fact is, you never know what greatness looks like until it is gone, and everyone wants to put in their two cents.

I don't give a flying squirrel-fart about who you are, nor do I really intend to WANT to give a shit. To the ASSHOLE who saw my post in DustMeat's posting about Doug, and decided to leap down my throat,

Watch your tongue,
you never know when flung
how far words go
what damage you may do.
Beware your own forked tongue
for its sting may not be felt
by anyone
save your own insulted pelt.

I hate having a part-time job and that's it.
It leaves me with 80 hours a week to do house-work, get in trouble, mercilessly haunt web-forums, get in trouble, sit around doing nothing, get in trouble, play SNES and XBox and PC games, get in trouble, get in trouble, get in trouble...

Recently got an other 24-hour ban from yet another web-forum... because I'm bored.