I just finished installing all the pertinent updates and programs to have my computer run properly, so it's time to download games!

Windows is installed on my new desktop but due to a lack of DVD drive I can't properly install the motherboard drivers, which means I can't connect to the internet...yet. What I am going to do in the meantime is transfer data into the secondary partition on the main hard drive via a USB SATA array. Sadly, I'm transferring data at the rate of 21 MB/s, so it'll take about 6 hours for stuff to go from one hard drive to another. The big culprit is the music and videos. I've gone through most of the videos and gotten rid of the crap, but I still have a lot. My music I'll sort through once it's all transferred, adjusting my playlists.

If I haven't mentioned it before here, my current desktop is not doing too well these days. The CPU overheats like crazy to the point that running a YouTube video or stream will make the CPU run at 42+ degrees Celsius. Yeah...that's not good. Plus, the RAID setup I use for my secondary storage failed twice in the last few days making me wary of doing another RAID setup.

It's the first time that I'm going with an Intel that isn't in a Mac, so this will be interesting. Plus, I'm going to use liquid cooling to keep the CPU cool while not overclocking. I'm not for overclocking as it can fuck up your system if you don't have consistent cooling. I am going to stay with my current graphics card because it's pretty boss and I prefer NVIDIA. I also realize after the fact that I forgot to get more than 8 GB of RAM, which is almost a cardinal sin in gaming. I'm going to need at least 8 GB more or I might go crazy and just buy 16 GB more, all depends on what's locally available.

Then, I'm going to need to look at places where I can recycle my old parts. Seriously, my old case and motherboard are history. Hell, I accidentally stripped a screw and can't remove one of the risers from the motherboard so even if I wanted to reuse it, I can't. I'm also debating if I should reuse my old generation one Blu-ray burner. I own Blu-rays, but I have a Blu-ray player hooked up to my TV, so I don't use the one on my computer anymore. Plus, if I go with a fresh install of Windows, all of my programs are gone and I have to reinstall everything. All the games, all the utilities, everything.

So, here's a question for you: should I attempt to migrate my current hard drive to my new rig, or just go fresh?

So...I recently got a commission done that I truly like, but due to the hard kinks involved I am wary to post it on FA. I have actually posted it elsewhere and the artist who made the commission has posted it on FA, but because I don't want to drive away my watchers I won't be posting it here.

In case you want to check it out, you can view it on SoFurry or Weasyl. Again, before you click those links, it does have hard kinks involved that not everyone is cool with but I do try to explain the background as to why it is happening. Sorry if you get grossed out, but I warned you.

After getting a lot of rest and taking some anti-nausea medication I'm feeling much better. I'm able to hold down food and I feel like my fever has gone done.

I started working on a random character when I woke up and I'll post pictures when I feel like I'm more finished. I might sell the character, who I've nicknamed Mocha.

And I feel like shit. Last night I did have a bit to drink, but I felt fine until I started to go to bed at about 3:30am. Got three hours of sleep and have puked twice, blown my nose and had chopped green peppers come out, am starting to have the runs, and I feel freezing. While alcohol is a factor, I would say this is closer to a flu or a bad stomach bug. I probably won't be the one driving home today as I feel terrible, but thankfully I have others who can drive for me.

I'm sure I'll be fine in a couple days after lots of fluids and BRAT foods.

As it is time for Anime Crossroads 2015, Vici and myself will be embarking on the three hour trip to Indianapolis for three days of fun. That means I pretty much won't be around FA this weekend, but I will be running a Pathfinder pick-up game and helping out with Anime Feud. I won't be suiting or cosplaying as I want to make a new Jedi costume, but I will be hanging out for the most part. If you're going to be there, drop by and say hello.

With the recent events going on with ORAS, I've kind of been getting back into the swing of Pokemon. My copy of X is incredibly close to having the Kalos Pokedex 100% completed and in Omega Ruby I'm currently on the hunt for legendaries and the repeat battle at the Pokemon League. I'll probably even continue the progress of Roxy in Y soon as she's getting through the gyms. But, even with my re-invigoration with the games, I've been wanting art of my characters even more.

That's why I got the Oswald picture from TakaTaka (which came out so well, they did an awesome job with it) and just now with porin (again, amazing art, she did such a good job with the colors). I might get a new picture of Roxy in her Trainer persona (Skyla) or maybe even get something of George, who I see as a Hiker.

I don't know. We'll see in the future what holds for my obsession with Pokemon.

For a while, I had a plan for a project involving Roxy set up with an artist, but it seems that the artist wants to simply ignore my communications and I've decided to scrap it for now. If I do find another artist who is willing to take on a big project like that, then of course I'll go into discussions and lay down the foundation, but only if they are willing to communicate.

My buddy Vehliayn is doing a 50-slot Iron Artist for $20 a slot. Each slot is also themed, so grab up the awesome ones fast.

https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6424886/
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6424886/
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6424886/

I'm buying a bunch of Cards Against Humanity expansions, notably the Bigger Blacker Box which has a bunch of blank cards. So, I need suggestions for furry-related cards, black and white cards, but no direct references to specific artists.

A white card example would be "A Bad Dragon variety pack."
A black card example would be "For my birthday, an artist gave me a picture of my fursona doing ________."

As the site's servers seem to be having need of maintenance, here's the places that you can find me:

SoFurry -- underclocked (my whole gallery is there)
Weasyl -- underclocked (I've only got a few things there)
Tumblr -- The Otter Nerd (pretty much just a blog, I voice my opinion and sometimes post art [very rarely])

In the past...oh, I don't know...week or so, I've gotten a slew of new watchers. To all of you watching me, thank you so much. It always makes me feel warm inside when I feel like people like me. I don't know why, maybe it's a popularity thing or the feeling of being validated. Whatever. Again, thank you all for the watches.

Now, onto new business. I had mentioned before the idea of doing an auction for a "night with Roxy" or possibly one of my other characters. Well, that idea has pretty much been put in the trash and revamped into something else. Instead, I am in talks with an artist where we might do a vignette series around Roxy. I've got a proof of the ad in the works and hopefully I an post it after the New Year. Until then, I hope everyone has a great holiday!

Hey everyone! I got back with Vici on Sunday in the afternoon as things had really died down due to the incident (I'll get into that later). I've already done a fairly thorough review of my experience, what went well, what needed to be improved upon, all that stuff, in a Tumblr post. Now, onto the incident.

In the Tumblr post I clearly remark that I wasn't there for it. I am saddened that it happened and I hope for a speedy recovery for those hurt in the attack. There is still no news on who did it, which is odd. If it was an organization, they would have claimed the attack by now. So, for the sake of the argument, I have to say it's just a sick individual.

But now that I'm back home (for the past few days), I've been able to recover from the lack of sleep and enjoy some rest. I've been coming up with some plans for the future, mostly projects both small and big. I'll keep you guys appraised of what's happening and upload the rest of my backlog. Also, for those that didn't know, I updated the submission 'Get to work, my pets.' as Mixideer finished it. Go check it out!

I just finished watching the teaser trailer for The Force Awakens and I have to say that I'm very intrigued. It seems like it has a lot to offer us in the ways of story and developing the universe past the Lucas canon. The effects look great so far, especially the shot of the Millennium Falcon doing a maneuver. The only thing I didn't like was when they revealed the lightsaber having multiple blades. It reminded me of when I saw the trailer for The Phantom Menace for the first time. The moment I am talking about is when they show the second blade of Darth Maul's lightsaber ignite, a big reveal for a trailer as Maul doesn't use the second blade at all in the movie until THAT moment...almost two hours into the movie (I checked it, it's at about 1:51:00). It's a classic blunder for studios, they put in something in the trailer that ultimately spoils the moment in the film, ruining a reveal. It's something that made me not see The Phantom Menace until after I had seen Attack of the Clones in 2005. Yeah, I waited 6 years to see the prequels and I wasn't too impressed. However, I wasn't impressed because George Lucas had his stink all over the prequels while we have the writer of The Empire Strikes Back and J.J. Abrams fronting this project. I have a bit more faith that this movie will be good. Also, if anyone tries to say that J.J. Abrams ruined the new Star Trek movies, you have to remember this: he wasn't a fan of the show, but he is a fan of Star Wars.

If you haven't seen the trailer, you can ​see it here

Unlike many others, I'm not going to be with family for Thanksgiving today, mostly because of cancellations and people getting sick. So, today I'm going to make my famous jambalaya for vici and myself and watch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day Marathon. If you've never seen MST3K, it's a show where the main characters, a man and two robots, make fun of the bad movies they have to watch. It starts up at 12pm Eastern, but until then they are looping Manos: The Hands of Fate.

I'll probably play some more Pokemon as well since I've only beaten 6 gyms and I'm in a plot-heavy moment. I'm really enjoying Omega Ruby. Sure, I technically have two starters because I traded over my special event Blaziken from Pokemon Y, but I love my Swampert. I named him "Kipper" because my roommate like kipper snacks and because I thought it sounded cute. Plus, can you imagine a Mega Swampert, in its deep, booming voice, just saying "Kiiiiip~"? To me, it's hilarious.

Using a journal post as my art queue started to get a bit too much of a hassle, so I've moved it to Trello. I've made it public so you, my watchers, know what's in the pipe and so that artists can more easily touch base with where they are with my commissions (not that most of them would look; Veh probably will). It also helps me keep everything organized, where I think the commission is if I haven't been told specifically, and gives me an idea of when to contact people to ask for a status update or a refund (last resort).

With the servers going down for maintenance on Friday, I figured I should reiterate where you can find me.

Weasyl - underclocked
SoFurry - underclocked
deviantART - underclocked
Twitter - TheOtterNerd

Many people are doing your character here auctions or raffles with the idea of it being "a night with" a certain character. I've actually been mulling it around a bit in my head as I know Roxy is a pretty popular character of mine, but would it really even be something anyone is interested in? If there is enough interest, I'll contact some artists, see if they're up for something like that and whether I should host it or if they should host it. It could be a lot of fun.

A few weeks back I bought a new Bamboo tablet since my old one got lost in the move a year and a half ago. It's small, which isn't a bad thing, as it also has multi-touch capabilities and I've quickly been getting used to drawing, or coloring, with it. If you haven't been paying attention, I've colored a couple pieces from darkjinti and I'm working on more. I might not color the Roxy and Sydney dildo sword fight as that is a TON of work...but maybe later.

But seriously, how do they look? I know they're just flat colors, but I just want to know what you guys think.

Okay, going to update once again on the status of the channel and the plans.

The status of the channel is still heavily in development. After seeing the doxxing issue of the GamerGate debacle, I want to try and remain as anonymous as possible, so I've put a stop on production. What I do want to do is start looking at FaceRig again, which I'll detail in a bit, or using static images to make the illusion of animation.

What do I mean by the "illusion of animation"? Think of the Sequelitis series by Egoraptor. He uses static images of himself and changes that image every so often to give the illusion of animation. It's a cheap, easy alternative to doing a fully animated figure. The way to get that done is by having me go out to an artist and commissioning about 8-15 chibi images of Oswald in various poses and emotions, like frustrated, angry, happy, enthusiastic, and introspective. And that's going to cost me a pretty penny.

The only other alternative is FaceRig, which is still in development. I've done a fairly deep look at FaceRig a couple months ago, but it's been going through the development phase pretty well with lots of new features but not 100% done yet. I even brought up the idea of commissioning a custom avatar for FaceRig on Reddit (there's a FaceRig subreddit), but since the program is still in early access not too many people are willing to go out on a limb and design too heavily for it. As of right now, FaceRig is slated as a full release in December, so I'll see how the full suite looks.

My only complaint with working directly with FaceRig is the complexity of producing a video. The process involves setting up my recording equipment (my camera, microphone, and laptop), then recording me talking for a bunch of takes, converting the video to a different format, inputting the video to FaceRig, saving the FaceRig output, syncing up the video and audio, and then editing it with the rest of the images and footage. If I do use FaceRig, I have a feeling I’ll only be able to upload one editorial-style video a week, if I’m lucky. The research alone on a video of that type could take days. That’s why I’m relying on let’s play videos to fill the gaps between editorial and review videos.

Speaking of let’s play videos, these will be the easiest to produce, probably getting about 10-15 half-hour videos done per week, and that’s just from recording for about 8 hours on a single day. Sadly, many games I play might be a bit of a slog with lots of “down time” of running around or grinding levels, but that’s why I want to do 25-30 minute segments as you can get through those boring times easily with commentary or by offering a button to skip to when things pick back up.

As of now, I have many games slated for play, most of them RPGs as they have deep stories and lots of character immersion. I will also do some platformers and action games, especially if it fits in with a holiday, like playing Alan Wake or Amnesia: The Dark Descent for Halloween or Little Inferno for Christmas (even though Steam Train already did it). I’ve already compiled a list of some games that would work well for the series, some posted in previous journals, but I’m going through my Steam library, my Origin library, and my physical catalogue of GBA, GameCube, and Xbox 360 games to find fun games to play that make for fun videos.

Another aspect of doing the let’s play videos is that having only one person can be boring. I’m going to try and have vici with me as much as possible, but my other roommate might also join in when we do stuff like play Mario Kart Double Dash while slightly inebriated. I’m also going to steer clear of newer releases as much as possible, unless it’s a review.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’d love to get feedback on what games you guys want to see me play, what subjects relating to furry and nerd culture you want me to talk about, and generally get a feel for what you guys want, as you might be my audience. Also, I won’t be making an account on FA for the YouTube channel as of right now as I don’t want to burden myself with that sort of thing quite yet. I’m nowhere near ready to launch and it might be February/March before I feel comfortable posting my first few videos.

Where are you staying?
My parents' place, they don't live far away.

What day are you getting there?
Thursday for pre-reg.

How are you traveling?
My red Prius. :3

Who will you be rooming with?
vici

How is the best way to find you?
I might be tweeting a bit, but otherwise you'll find me in artist's alley or the dealer's den.

Are there any panels you might be attending?
The fursuit panels, anything with Kage and 2, as well as writing panels.

What do you look like?
A butt... I'm kidding! I look like a ginger with a bit of a potbelly.

Will you be suiting?
Not really. I'll be wearing my lemonbrat hoodie.

Do you do free art?
I guess I could. You might not like it. :P

Do you do trades?
Not really...I'm not an artist.

What is your gender?
Penis possessor. I think it's called a "male".

How tall are you?
5' 10"

Can I talk to you?
Sure, it's a free country.

Can I touch you?
It's not that free of a country. Ask first and if I say yes, then maybe.

How can I find you?
Stalk me on Twitter I guess.

Can I visit your room?
Absolutely not.

Can I buy you drinks?
I guess. Just don't drug it.

Can I give you stuff?
Maybe, I don't know how I'd feel about that. If I bought something from you, you can give it to me.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Ask vici, I think she'll say no, though.

Are you nice?
I'd like to think so...

Do you have an artist table?
Nope.

Will you be going to parties?
Probably not, but we'll see.

Will you be performing?
Performing what? I guess if I have to ask then it's a no.

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Walk up to me calmly and introduce yourself. Be civilized.

Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
All over the place, but maybe in the common areas of the hotel and wandering.

What/where will you be eating?
Giordano's at least once because that is some of the best pizza on the planet, and usually at the cash bar.

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
I guess.

Can I look in your sketchbook?
I don't have one, but I may have to invest in one. (I may have one buried in the garage...)

Can I draw in your sketchbook?
Sure!

Can I take your picture?
Please ask first.

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Meet more people, maybe make some more friends.

I saw this on Reddit a couple days ago, but it's simply amazing. It's so cool that the artist is even starting to make prints and shirts of certain works.

Album: http://imgur.com/a/f2wSg
Artist's Site: http://www.austindlight.com/pre-order/

The Pup Fiction one has a print and shirt while Ron Man only has a print at the moment, but you can request whatever work you want to be a print or shirt. I bought myself a Pup Fiction shirt, which I will be wearing to MWFF, as it fits the setting. :3

A while back, I mentioned that I was trying to get into a local 4-year school, and over the weekend I got the official packet of acceptance. Now all I have to do is finish my last class and my transfer requirements are done! Come Fall 2015, I will be studying TV production. :3

First off, I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! The stream I did was fun, but we had some slight technical difficulties (the audio stopped working at one point). Also, I never said I was any good at third-person action games. :P

Next: updates! I've got three big ones incoming. The first is the Halloween pic from uzai, which looks great. Second is the raffle comic from wolframkyo for me and -arctic-. It also turned out great, especially loving the "nope" that Oswald is giving in the last panel. Last is the last Patreon commission reward from tokifuji of Oswald in his water polo speedo. I'll be uploading them slowly over today and the day.

Enjoy!