... already! I've been going since its first iteration in 2013, but 2023's is likely to end up being my last one, depending on how things go IRL.

I did indeed have a good time at my little (1,620 attendance) local con. There were some rainclouds here and there... both literally and figuratively, since I missed the faces of some friends I normally see at these. I might get to see them for cherry blossom viewing, though, so there is that! More importantly, those rainclouds didn't dominate, and I got to enjoy a couple of panels. The ones I went to largely touched on history... also philosophy and theology at times, much to my personal pleasant surprise.

Was also able to pick up some targeted presents while I was in the Dealers' Den*, and also got a few things for myself from
 edgarkingmaker
* AnthroCon terminology; at FTM I think it's just "the Marketplace".

Fur The 'More's game room was top-notch, as it always is, and once more I did get to indulge in some Atari and NES retrogaming with a small transient audience; got to meet some new faces that way, too. Had some metaphorical headaches to deal with during the week leading up, but this weekend was totally worth it all around

From my personal favorite Rankin-Bass special...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghQI-3MGt5A
... my all-time personal favorite, pun intended.

Some of you may have noticed that my uploading slowed down again. The good news is that stuff has improved for me IRL and so I'm not spending as much time on the computer. I'll probably be away a lot this coming January, but have an inkling of going back once again to a one-post-a-day routine for a while starting with February.

Something champagne-flute-related that happened this year (R-rated M/F) :
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/49557891/

Something once-again relevant that happened twelve years ago (X-rated M/M) :
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50...../#cid:37535895

Since it's one of those days where it doesn't even matter whether it's mm/dd or dd/mm style!

 sketchredtiger is doing new stuff again these days, and I wanted to plug him, first of all.

Since May 2019, there is little I have uploaded, and that is entirely on me. There is quality work by Sketch that I still need to share.
Ditto for  SailorAnna /  RayneTheComic !
Same still for  Star_skybright

I just updated an old-ish but popular collaborative picture by two of those three artists...
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31473911/
... finally giving Rarity a horn! An anatomical alicorn, if you will.

More appropriate to the season, I also just uploaded brand new work from earlier this week! Two sketches by SailorAnna, two ink-and-color treatments of those sketches by StarSkybright and, er, Sketchredtiger... nickname aside.

SA's Janet solo
B&W: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50186147/
in Color: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50186175/

Her, paired with SA's new heraldic unicorn Lilah and adorable whitetail-reindeer mix Frank.
B&W: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50186208/
in C: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50186219/

The flesh may be weak but the spirit has found a new willingness. I'm happy to take this time on FA but am swamped even more than usual with RL right at this moment. However, I have been going through old files and folders pretty thoroughly lately. My pre-New Year's Resolution is to resume uploading one image once a day starting around Christmastime itself, seeing as I have at least two images that're solar New Year-themed.

Had a good time! Sailoranna was unable to make it this time, but I hope SA has a good time over at Texas Furry Fiesta. I did get to attend with two buddies at my side, although they maintain a low profile on FA and I respect that.

As an aside: I attended the final BronyCon in 2019 (and, as far as I could tell, do not appear in that Jenny Nicholson "Fandom Autopsy" YouTube video). Those pegasisters were understaffed, and it showed. On the other appendage, this year's FTM staff were at something like 2/3rds of their normal size and it did not show, in my opinion. I even speak as one who was part of the FTM staff back in 2013 (and simply decided that was not for me). At any rate, mad respect for the crew this year.

There were relatively few panels this year, but I did enjoy the few which I did attend. A lot of the time in between? I ended up spending in the video game room, either feeling lost while looking at the new iteration of Smash Bros., or doing some actual retrogaming with lesser-known titles on the NES Classic. I had both triumphs and defeats doing that, with a small audience, and even though it was like hitting one's head against a wall sometimes, I was still honored to introduce both faded classics and forgotten curiosities which were novel to those who chose to watch.
At the marketplace,  EdgarKingmaker did a little piece for me which most of you reading this have already seen...
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/46230777/
( 'looks almost like it might've been a cut narration scene from Ralph Bakshi's Wizards XD )
... and which happened to be relevant to the pizzeria/deli where I got maybe half of my meals during the con, for all that I mourned the loss of goat cheese pizza from their menu.

I also picked up some small anime fan merch by "Three Starving Artists" and "The Bubbly Sheep", neither of whom seem to have a FurAffinity presence. In any case, the goods (guuzu as they're known in Japan) will make good birthday presents later this year.
The husband-wife team  A_Blue_Deer and  Shana were at home and thus nowhere near FTM. However, I was able to recognize their shared art style from maybe a quarter-way across the marketplace, thanks to the display at the Rabbit Valley Publishing booth. Rabbit Valley was selling two volumes of artbooks of theirs from 2015 or so called Winding Silhouettes. ABD and Shana's style have grown more refined over the past 7+ years, but I only started following their work recently, and so it was a treat to see early versions of so many of their characters.

Anyway, through no fault of the con itself, the whole thing was a bittersweet experience because I doubt I'll be able to attend next year's, even though I love the thought of doing so. Wearing masks the whole time cut down on the enjoyment, too (and I skipped this year's Rocky Horror Picture Show for that specific reason), but that too was through no fault of the con itself. The chair expressed hope, at Closing Ceremony, th't that will be unnecessary in 2023, but here's hoping (without Monkey's Paw stuff involved... for this region and our world as a whole).

Man darn! I never did write ahead of time that I'd be attending Fur The 'More.
https://www.furthemore.org/
Well, I am Nice little local con. Fortunately nice, still... unfortunately extra-little this year on account of all the weirdness going on.

Here's hoping things pic up a good deal for peak day / Saturday. If you're reading this and the journal entry is relevant: Saturday and Sunday both, I'll be wearing a green mask, green t-shirt, and a white-n-blue striped long-sleeved shirt with a green sign clipped on it.

 edgarkingmaker dun already made me proud!
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/46.....#cid:163078546

"I know people call it 'Veteran's Day' now, but I prefer the old name. It's more optimistic." -- (quoted/paraphrased from memory) Walt Kelly

On a pleasant note, though, I have been told that this is also the day of Poland's independence from the Warsaw 'Pact' ... so congratulations to the Poles among you!

今日もいい天気 : kyou mo ii tenki. Weather’s gotten better, and I’ve made it a point to take advantage of the fact. Connected with this, I can say with mixed emotions that, for the past two nights, I’ve been close enough to have the privilege of seeing this in the sky, firsthand:
https://thezebra.org/2021/09/10/wha.....t-at-pentagon/

The actual day? While I was on my way home from work, I could smell the smoke coming from that part of the Pentagon. I hope that never again -- at that time of day, and with weather which was also so beautiful and blue -- will those same normally-packed streets ever be so eerily empty and quiet.

Prior to posting this, I read reactions here on FA which were measured...
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9985297/
also this
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9985341/
which gave due credit to this:
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9984748/
... and 'measured' they were, in a non-sarcastic, non-clickbait-y manner.

My own take here is going to cede that high ground, seeing as I do have a pair of messages on my mind which are political in nature. Hell, it really is one message boiled down, and the world fucked itself for ever allowing it to be controversial at all.

Toward those to the right of me: I think most of us have learned by now that "the law of unintended consequences" is not applicable to stuff like LBJ's Great Society only and is in fact a human failing rather than a (Modern) 'Lib' one.

With the Overton Window narrowed artificially -- and temporarily, even if it didn't feel so temporary at the time -- there were too few voices being heard in the early years-plural after this attack. The 'respectable' among the DP were shortsighted and spineless and complicit as hell in the aftermath, with differences and overlaps alike in motivation among them. However, it was the RP of that era and the conservative cliques of mass media who plugged its ears and engaged in an intentional and cynical 'cancel culture'. Yes, I'll call it by that name, even if that exact label wouldn't come about for another one score of years, give or take.

Toward those to the left of me: Freeze Peach is an even worse joke than was Whirled Peas before it. "If you're not with [insert package deal, insert assumptions not to be questioned], then you are against [light and goodness and puppies and kittens]" was shitty rhetoric for political purposes from the start. (Do I hear someone out there asking for religious exemptions, now? Ugh, one can o' worms at a time, please.) Some at the time -- 'on both sides of the aisle', at that -- caught on to said shittiness immediately. Others learned one wrong lesson or another from its immediate success and efficacy, and they passed their version of the lesson along to those younger than themselves, ready to take it for granted.

Do you know who Georges Danton and Maximilien Robespierre are? It's worth looking into what they did, how they died, and what excuses were made throughout both events... or... three or four events, maybe, depending on how you count there.

Anyway, I have some recommended viewing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY57ErBkFFE
shorter than one minute long, at that. It's a 'little' message from a 2050 AD and beyond which we do not want to see.

"To the left" and "to the right" of me... both those categories include people in my biological family, as well as people who've been friends since as long back for me as kindergarten. I'm in a position to flex in such a way I can say I'm including people on one side or other of the Atlantic and on one side or other of the Pacific. Heated arguments will come and go, though more important to me is that if things get heated, then at least let it be for good reasons and not just panic.

You all and you each are more than just part of some insight-pornographer-essayist's 'tribe', and you have a mind which need not be enslaved to your local conventional wisdom, whatever it may be.
https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-p.....apper-25493273
It's worth perusing, at least, whether you're a US citizen or not.

Do you live in a high-population-density area? That alone doesn't make you more worldly than someone who lives out in the countryside. Are you from that countryside, or intentionally settled down into it? The fact alone, drone strikes or atom bombs and longstanding snark aside, makes you neither 'more smart' nor less brainwashed than some random city mouse, either.

Doesn't matter what some loquacious and faddish academic says, doesn't matter what some however-intentioned bumper sticker says, either. So you reading this: Do you have reason to feel attacked by anything I've said so far? Most days I'm not so confrontational, but on this day I had reason to let loose, and am glad I got your attention! Take care about being paternalist toward 'the other' moiety.

... of the ねずみ・ mouse and/or rat, at that! Look around my faves, and you will find plenty of examples of them ^_^

One week after posting this, I'll be attending Fur The 'More
http://www.furthemore.org
and I look forward to seeing at least a few of you out there, then!

P.S., If you wrote me at some point and haven't heard back, feel free to write me again. While I was getting used to the new interface, I accidentally deleted a bunch of notices I'd been holding onto.

Got to enjoy Anthrocon 2019, and spent some extra time in Pittsburgh proper (and vicinity) afterward with  rick2tails . It is a city I enjoy for more than just the convention. Now I'm back south, dealing with some flood damage at home. Fun thing to return to! Seriously, though, I am pretty sweaty while I write this but have been able to take care of the worst of the smell pretty well. I can write more later if yunz want me to, although I can't promise it'd be the same length as last year's post! For now, I think I'm going to curl up with a good book and rest up for while, finally. Dental appointment tomorrow, too.

Been five-sixths of a year since my last [url=]long[/url] journal, so here yunz go! All being well, I still hope to attend Anthrocon this coming July, and I’ve already started making arrangements.

I had some technical difficulties off and on the past couple of months, but had been getting assistance from friends. I was better about taking some advice more than others, and I’m still having some residual problems, but doing much better (communication-wise) than I have for some time. If you’re reading this and I fell out of touch with you, then consider this journal an invitation! As you can see on my front page here, I don’t post contact info all that openly, but I will share if I know you ^_^ and my FA notes are active.

Content Note: pro'ly my longest journal here ever, by far.

Thank you to all the con staff for what I saw to be a (mostly) smooth operation, and thank you to almost all the attendees I interacted with face-to-face for contributing to such a good time! I gave reasons earlier for attending this year and not others. This year, I was eager to go even on short notice, and afterward was glad I went.

My sister (yes, RL; not a cutesy affectation) had no furry interest before the convention and just came along for two days out of curiosity. By the end, she wanted to go again come 2019 and even during the closing ceremony decided upon a (non-fursuit) costume for that event.

Chances are (no claims at 100%) that she'll attend next year, just as she did this year, simply as "Sister of Laocorn". She is not to be confused with Sulia, a character rarely speculated on in furry form (although for the record, I imagine Sulia'd be a more Arabian / more willowy, less Andalusian kind of horsey unicorn), nor with Loacorn, Lao's distaff counterpart. Should she desire a furry/scaly/feathery 'sona, I might suggest possibilities or just let it come about organically, depending on how she approaches the subject, with no rush and no particular sense of storytelling purity involved. I've seen furry-curious people in the past who seemed pressured within themselves to come up with some character/s right away. I never saw the point in tha, but could see some of the less reflective furs out there encourage that mindset.

Speaking of pressure, she and I both figured that she'd get hit on once or twice throughout the con if/when on her own in the hallways, Sabrina Online-style. Neither of us foresaw that it'd happen four times ("quadrice"?) in just one hour! All the come-on lines were the same pushy variety, too, I understand: along the lines of "What's a fine woman like you doing without a man at your side?" From one or two, it might've been from a fragment of their genuine personalities. Out of most of them, I'm thinking it's "PUA splash damage":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ezbYl3rzOI#t=9.5s
(9 1/2 seconds in, if that timestamp doesn't work...
3 minutes and 1 1/2 seconds in for that Fatal Fury TMP clip above, incidentally)
Fuck you four guys every way but literally.

Now to continue by naming three from a proper cast of characters:
 shujintribble ("ST", Star Trek ref intended) who did me a crucial string of favors when he easily could have said no
 daq who was good company and assisted once or twice with my todavia crappy Spanish
 sailoranna ("SA") who helped me out more than he would ever let on on his own

Warning in advance: I may neglect or forget to list some of yinz/yunz whom I met and interacted with. Feel free to call me "swine" in the comments, if you wish; I got that specific reaction to at least one of my posts in Ye Olde Usenet days when I visited .uk newsgroups. Also, my already-idiosyncratic editing and hyperlinking may grow wonkier if not lazier toward the end. I just d'n't want to put off this post for too much longer.

The rest of the following is adapted largely from an online conversation with my good friend Boss Hoss, who couldn't join the fun at the con. Thank you, Hoss, for the inspiration!

Spent Wednesday / the 4th of July with my sister, although she needed to go back to work the following two days. Thursday, continuing to wear one of my two patriotic t-shirts with an eagle, I took a bus to the convention center in the morning. Thing is, I lack/ed a device which would allow me to preregister then, and the walk-in registration line didn't even open until 2 pm.  I scouted the area but couldn't really do anything, so as soon as I saw the overcast sky open up to a blue sky, I went out for a walk along the Allegheny River right there.

Got back to the center at 1pm where a relatively short line had formed. I took my place, stood there in place for the hour while staff set things up, and managed to sign up at 2:22 or something like that. Unfortunately there was something wrong with some of the computers we were using to sign in, so I had to go to the Help Desk, which also had a line. I got into that, and a much longer line began to form behind me; apparently I was not the only one with that problem.

There was a whole string of minors who did not have consent forms ready yet, so the staff needed time to make phone calls and such as well. Even though I was close to the front of the line, minors took priority and so there was no choice to wait. There was some unrelated personal awkwardness which went on for me to one side of each line I was in -- nothing horrible, though, let alone debilitating -- and the staff were adjusting as best they could to whatever that afternoon's technical problem was. Once I got seen at the Help Desk, I also got my badge really soon after. I'd called my sister to let her know she could prereg from a computer on her end, which she did. That evening, was able to hop into a shorter line than I'd had. Once together, we went to a local restaurant we both know and love.

One nice dinner and a couple of phone text(ing)s later, we got back to the center just after SA and Daq had made it. The four of us chatted for some time, and then my sister went home for an early night. (This was Thursday, and she had work on Friday as well.) I'd written up two panels I had hoped to attend but didn't get to, due to time conflicts. Normal for (say,) uni class sign-ups and for convention itineraries alike, though, so I was still happy with how things turned out. ST and I finally got to meet up, got off to a good start, and got to chat with a good friend of his, as well,
 dutch . 
Hell, I even got the chance to sing this song at the 4:42 mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6okV_BhkaI#t=4m42s
in public for the first time in years, when the subject of Celts happened to come up, 'cause I'm just one pretentious bastard when I want to be.
("Pethau", although misspelled by the otherwise kind YT uploader right above, a word which sounds more like "peh thigh". There's also a... "different" take on the song out there.)

Friday morning -- now wearing a vintage アメ漫画・animu shirt (still in decent shape, though old enough to drink in Japan or here in the US) which I got at an Otakon back when they were still tiny affairs -- I got to met up with two friends of mine who wish to stay anonymous. They'd driven up to P'gh from west of here (but still Virginia), checked in to their hotel, and made it to the convention center. SA and Daq by that point were setting themselves up in the Artists' Alley, where those two (among others!) had plenty of refs laid out and seemed to be doing decent business. Only one of us three had been to a post-Philly AC before, and so he showed us around the venue. This was good, because I'd missed two important spots when I scouted on my own the night before.


I spent some time in the Dealers' Den, making that day my big shopping day on purpose, just to be on the safe side. This ended up being a good idea with some of Roz Gibson's hardcopy books. 'Also let me get an idea of how many take-home commissions I could request / commit to later. (Ultimately I got one from Max Blackrabbit and three from Daq.) Speaking of Roz, I need to share some of her commishes for me; there's even one I got in 1999!


Some of that time, I spent with one of the Brothers Grin, and got a handful of originals from him, sold for a couple o' dollars a pop and drawn on the back of Toys R Us coupons and such. He apparently drew them years ago while bored at his day job there. Also had a nice chat with the couple behind Ask Jam / Peaches and Cream, who gave me a very nice shopping bag for my merch! Unfortunately, though through fault of my own, I came to overload it with other stuff. I started then to carry it with my hand gripping its underside so th't it never entirely came apart. (Everything made it through in one piece by the end; come Monday, I was careful on the two train rides and one bus ride home. Especially with my big and autographed prints of Jasmine the mouse. Speaking of whom...)

 skidd and  phuufy had their own strong presence in the Den.
Our interactions had been exclusively online until that point. Most took place in the early 2010s, well before UQ, and while I was living in Japan. They recognized the name on my tag, and we reminisced a bit about Final Fantasy Tactics and other fun things. I was touched that after so much time, they remembered as much as they did. Later, on one of the weekend days, I took my sister down to see them. Skidd was away at that time, but 風介 (my longstanding interpretation of what "Phsuke" might be in kanji) was there, as was one of the Picarto mods. At any rate, my sis thought the Uberquest bookmarks looked really cute, and she (having a soft spot for small press comics I have helped with / encouraged over the years) was impressed at hearing how successful the series was.

Friday afternoon, I met up with my here-anonymous friends again and snacked on the overpriced stadium-style food right there nearby... in part because I was hungry, and in even larger part because there were ten different large tubs of squirtable condiments from Heinz, and I'd never seen six or seven of them. They were decent, and the Ranch Dressing was my favorite.

Together we then went to a panel about Dungeon Mastering. At the start, they were more interested than I, and then I ended up paying closer attention toward the end while they were distracted by a portable Nintendo game of some kind. It didn't help with everyone's concentration that this was one of the events where someone -- in the front row of a packed room, mind -- saw fit to bring a baby/toddler.

About that same time, my sister got off from work, and I met up with her again at the tail end of an animation panel hosted by Len Simon. (Parenthetical longer than the supposed main part of the paragraph: Later at the closing ceremony, Mr. Simon said that it was his first furry con but that he was left really wanting to join AC for the following year. Uncle Kage went on record saying that while he wouldn't get limos or a suite for him for 2019, he and the staff would work something out for him.
 rick2tails told me still-later on that Mr. Simon was the most considerate and deep-listening conversationalist out of any GoH he'd ever talked to at any con.
I'll have to ask my sis later if she ever spoke with Mr. Simon, as she was interested in doing; I had not done so m'self.)

Friday evening's dinner wasn't with my sister, though.  Turned out that she was glad to visit briefly that evening after work, but was also short on sleep and wanted to get as much rest as she could.  So I dropped off my Den goods at my room and met up again at one of the hotels with Dutch along with SA and Daq. We ate at Nikki's Thai Restaurant and all really enjoyed what they had to offer, whether spiciness level one or three out of five. It was really busy at Nikki's (as it was elsewhere!), and enough time passed that I completely missed out on the MLP:FiM panel. I was a little sad about that, but I'd had little to eat that entire day, so the meal and company were well worth the tradeoff.

Friday evening didn't have much else I was interested in, although I had a look in the Video Game room. To be honest, I was a whole lot more impressed by Fur The 'More's selection, despite FTM being a local/regional rather than worldwide con. At any rate, I spent more time in the Zoo, and got to meet some of the 'dorks' of Picarto.
 mits spotted me frequently throughout the con, and would help me procure pizza when Sunday evening came, as if his sense of humor already wasn't enough.
 sethtriggs gets a shout-out of his own for managing to spot me even earlier at the 'Zoo', and for having interesting things to say about teaching and history.
I did make an ass of myself with a Lusophone fellow there, though; I forget the details, but to be honest, I think I kinda choked. Hopefully by next year I'll've had more practice and more / more intelligent things to say porque eu gostu da língua portuguesa!

Saturday morning, I fell short of the glory of hipsters by neglecting to put on my also-vintage Blockbuster Video shirt. In any event, I did apply deodorant as usual, and my Otakon shirt still smelled good, at least! My priorities were straight; the upcoming Ironclaw game meant more to me than almost anything else at the con, including that Pony panel I missed anyway. I was pretty well rested by con standards, although unfortunately my choice of Burger King breakfast (Sourdough King) gave me indigestion and made concentration harder than it should have been.

That BK was interesting, though, and that same location had saved my bacon (pun intended) on a different occasion one June evening when I was staying in a different hotel room, running short on time, and really wanting an evening meal before catching that week's Toonami marathon. Anyhow, back to Saturday 7/7: the young son of one of the cashiers was hanging around that morning. As soon as he saw my tags, he offered to shake my hand and wanted to show me some cell phone pics he got of himself with fursuiters. It was unexpected and weird to me at the time, and I was stiffer than ideally I would have been, but I think it was sweet of the boy, in retrospect / after I'd seen him interact with other customers. It was one small case study in the furry-city relations with the con going on.

Although less of a problem than the food (which Hoss says gives him similar trouble), I overheard a group next to me who had encountered a surly fur either earlier that morning or some time the night before. In the check-out line I told them that wasn't right, and another fur or two agreed. It sounded like they knew each other through AA, based on their conversation. From what I could gather, they were having trouble with people who joined due to court orders instead of their own volition. While I ate, the group chose to be sit down at a table two over from me. One of them started to look over my con badge and Lyra Heartstrings flare, not to mention the 1990s anime con shirt. She gave my torso a dirty look, but gave me this amusingly awkward smile once she noticed th't I had noticed.

They had their own conversation going on, and I wanted to finish my food (without rushing, though apparently that didn't help) before the game, so no story time or explanatory lecture was about to come out of me in that or any similar circumstance. I just took advantage of a lull when I had gotten up to drop off my trash and head out the door. Before leaving, though, I told them that I was sorry they had a bad encounter, and hoped the rest of their weekend was good. All of them seemed to appreciate the sentiment, and they wished me the same. (Now, I'm not the greatest at reading people for passive-aggression or other deception, but far from the worst and not as bad as I used to be, either. Since I have more experience and confidence in general now than once upon a time, I tend to do well when trusting my instincts.) So, that was my contribution to that.

Compensating for my discomfort in the chest and stomach (all while playing a capital-G Gluttonous character), my sister ended up being a good wing(wo)man for me and Presbyter Vesper, though. We both hope she'll get a spot and a character of her own at another demo.
 rafferty the creator himself was there and "Host"ing, intriguingly!
(We got to have a nice chat or two in the den later on, too.)
I'm going to need to write a separate journal entry about IC as a whole, both regarding its system and setting, since I feel my chatty ring being pulled further. Briefly: I got it one year as a birthday present from my best friend (not a furry, closeted or otherwise, but a sympathizer), followed it closely in its early days, and if anything it seems to have improved in the years since. On the back of my character sheet from the morning's event, I have the FA names of about a third of the people at the table. I still need to dig it out of my luggage.

My anon. friends managed to slip in mid-game much as my sister had, and the two listened in for a while, podcast-style, although they had to leave early as well. My sis and I, happy from and after the game overall, managed to avoid the worst of the lunch rush. We also walked to the far east of the map AC provided anyway (no pun intended, that time) to Sushi Kim's. My sis loves and in fact often craves sushi, I love Korean food, and both of us were pretty impressed by the place. The place had clearly been open for years on end, and we were happy with our dishes and their portions. I couldn't understand any of the lyrics of the music being played, but the style reminded me of post-War Japan's enka. My first exposure to that general style was one of the old Captain Harlock movies, and I came to hear it all the time in some among the working class restaurants I used to frequent in rural Japan. Anyhow, I (in an arguably foolish way) had ordered a dish with enough spice to challenge me. Boy did I feel it for a while afterwards, yet it was not a bad feeling in the same way as what BK had brought on a couple hours prior. 'Kept my sinuses clear, too.

Since few of the panels that day interested either of us siblings, we took it kind of slow for a Saturday. She got to explore the venue in more detail than the evenings previous, and together we soaked in the subdued craziness of the sort of crowds that I assured her Fur The 'More (fun as those cons are!) doesn't see, fursuited or sans. Getting to the Westin was its own adventure and the elevator ride unusually scary, but we made it to the last two of four transformation-themed panels. From what we heard later from some of the aforementioned 'dorks', the first one or two were infantilizing, and having all four in a row straight-up assured fatigue.

Luckily for us, that third-of-four was a decent panel, and the final one was incredibly well thought-out! It went into history and psychology and statistics. I want to give the host of that panel proper credit (and he was the vendor from whom I bought my Pony clips, no less) but I'm getting sleepy, would have to find his business card to double-check his handle, and I don't remember whether he has an FA account or not. We paid him another visit the following day and had been looking forward to doing so. That panel about inanimate TF just happened to be a stimulating end to the evening of that big day.

Dinner was at -- "Crystal's", if I'm remembering that name right off-hand -- another place near the eastern edge of AC's 'eats' map. The falafel in their furry con special was OK, although it was their fries that were especially good! I got to try Iron City Beer for the first time, which had me curious and which I remember reading about in one of Stephen King's novels. (Not the one whose adaptation got Ready Player One exposure, though.)

Sunday morning, I upheld a personal tradition for the final day of every con attended since the late '90s: my Lethargic Lad tee! Both to show my love for the character (well, more the title and the stuff that goes on around him) and to reflect how some of the con-goers are "Um..." undoubtedly feeling on the last day. I chose McDs for breakfast that day, and it didn't give me the same problem that BK had. I don't even like to go there particularly when I can avoid it. (But oh well. Has anyone else here also read Escape to New York? "Eat it or starve. I don't care.")

I had to miss the Undertale panel since I went with the Zootopia one instead, which was scheduled at mostly the same time. I misremembered the room number for some reason and ended up being late, finding myself listening to the middle of a detail-oriented and stereotypically fannish debate between attendees who had seemingly invited themselves to speak. "Cheese-n-crackers, an hour and a half of this?" I thought, but the panelists/moderators got back things back on track and were each entertaining, to boot. My sister may like the movie even more than I do, and she had some of the same thoughts about the panel. Despite my concerns from that rough start, the time pretty much flew after that.

One trip to the Westin's 3rd floor ballroom later, I got to sate my curiosity for half an hour by listening to the now famous-in-furridom "Boozy Badger". I enjoyed the cadence of his voice and was reminded of Jack Nicholson / Christian Slater / Brad Jones in a pleasant way. Two or three of his stepchildren of various ages saw fit to be impromptu co-panelists. That whole part I found kind of surreal; along with some of the subject matter, I was happy to take it in small doses.

We (sis 'n I) had our lunch at the Mexican restaurant across the street named "Bakersfield". One of the people there is an old friend of ours, and is also none other than the one who introduced me to the After the Bomb and ... Other Strangeness RPG years and years ago, being about TMNT-style mutant animals. He's never attended an AC, but appreciates the business they bring in to his restaurant and adopted town each year.

A nice lunch was followed up only by the closing ceremonies, which (in a wacky / Greg Bear's City at the End of Time-sorta way) I already wrote about, along with some personal good-byes... some more drawn-out by hanging-out than others. I had a train to catch early in the morning and ended up having no problem with that.

Dang. Well! I look forward to hearing from anyone who cares to comment ^_^

Although I've been to most of the Fur The More local conventions, and incidentally (though memorably) to FC 2011, this will be the first AC I've attended since Valley Forge 1999! Am only doing so this particular year because one of my sisters just moved to Pittsburgh, so she and I'll be hanging out on the 4th. My sis is not a furry but she thought the event looked interesting, so she'll be going over to the convention center for the weekend days, herself.

I'll definitely be at the Ironclaw event if at all possible, same for the Brony and a handful of the other panels.
Chances are, if it's like FC, I will be spending a lot of time in the Artists Alley hanging out with  sailoranna and  daq .
This is all rather short notice, I know, but I hope to meet up with as many of you out there as I can!

I had a bunch of technical difficulties going on before, but fortunately I seem to have everything back online.

Will be busy for a lot of the rest of this month helping with moves. When able to, I hope to catch up with some people here, bit by bit. Feel free to reach out.

Many thanks to two techies out there, including a Texan foxie friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous!

6/20 update: Something's come up, although of a positive nature, and I'm going to be out of town and mostly offline until 6/25 or so. ( *shoehorns in a chance to say 'fifth' with the 'f' and everything* :P )

The title is acronym-friendly, and the body here is mostly here to be a little bump after my last, long-out-of-date journal entry. (James Rolfe voice) CheruThon (/voice) was while it lasted, but coming up now are three pictures kindly done for me... of different things, by different artists. The first'll even be safe-for-work!
 crab-pinches
 sketchredtiger
 sailoranna

Now is also a good time for a shout-out to
 souleatersaku90
who as of now is in the middle of a delightful "suihku" (shower) series!

The rest of my uploads this month, and a couple of the first in October, will be by this long-time favorite artist of mine, among those who had an influence on how I see my own characters Pippy and Lao. She's also one of very few to draw Pippy's father. A lot has changed over the last eleven, twelve years, but (some of us... are still survivin' and) some of these pictures
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/19495234/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/19541293/
represent memories I look back on fondly.

Her hubby  amonomega did some nice work for me as well, uploaded this past week:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24853896/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24843479/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24833786/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24822594/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24812427/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24802544/

Unrelated, but
 sailoranna 's newest wall is ongoing, as is
 crab-pinches 's magical girl theme and
 auradeva 's any-theme-you-want speedpaints.
If you're reading and feel left out, feel free to speak up in the comments!

Wait, it looks like I've got my Beavis and Butt-head-beloved numbers reversed. Anyway...

The past few weeks have been good for me and my family, although my computer has been giving me some trouble. The past week or so I tried to submit some files here on FA, to be told that they were either in the wrong format or "corrupted". Not a big deal, although it undermined some of the organization I'd been up to, and proved more annoying and discouraging than I would've liked. Rather than worry about that still, I made a few changes and am now just going to share some minor other cute files I've come across in my old download folders. I have and hopefully will be returning to that recent, satisfying format of "a file or two a day" (or three, heh).

I'll be out and about a lot for the next few days, but this weekend, I hope to be back in touch with those of you who've been wanting to see me in chat.

At any rate, I wish to thank everyone still watching me, as well as my new watchers from yesterday / earlier today and from the past month or two.

Also, I wanted to announce that  sailoranna has begun a new theme and is still going to be accepting slots for a while
 auradeva has been streaming often on Picarto on weekdays and will be happy to take new "speedpaint" commissions
 sketchredtiger will be doing similar stuff on Picarto over the weekends when he can. He will have had a hand in much of the stuff you'll be seeing from me this month.

Apparently today is the birthday of the (erm, fictional) star of the bland side-dish of Nicktoons:
http://dougfunniesjournal.tumblr.co.....-last-birthday

To be honest, I believe Rocko's Modern Life to be the only Nicktoon that really holds up. This might be a crackpot-level sort of opinion, but for one point in favor of that: to this day  hammytoy has been having fun with that property. Anyhow, Ren & Stimpy is more historically significant, but it suffered from overexposure, and too many reruns even when it was first on the air. Please note I mean no disrespect to the tie-in material  mkaz did for that (especially as seen here; it's a heartwarming story I shared with my sister and my cousin, who both liked R&S overall more than I did).

Years later, I used to watch Spanish-dubbed "¡Oy Arnold!" on Univision, along with Dragonball Z and Batman Beyond. All of those helped me with my Spanish at least a tiny bit*. I recorded some episodes onto VHS back in the day, in NTSC format, so it was compatible with Japanese video cassette decks. I was able to share those (and English dubs, of course) with some of my colleagues and students in Japan as a novelty in the pre-You Tube days.

I shouldn't let myself off without admitting with shame that there was a span of time when I liked Doug. That time didn't last too long, though, and when Disney bought the IP to 'spank' it and make 'new' seasons of the thing I remember being all "Uu-WHY?"

Yeah, there's that; there's also my Hey Arnold! story above... but within that whole "slice of life"** kids-in-school sub-genre of cartoons, the only one I look back on really fondly was the non-Nicktoon Pepper Ann. Not to be confused with this PA, and if anybody does confuse the original PA with Fido Dido, then that is... perfectly understandable!

Anyhow, anyone who made it to the bottom, thanks for sticking with my discursive little journal entry here!

* Only recently have I even tried getting any good at Spanish, and I am still really low-level... though have at least been able to talk to people while out-and-about a couple of times. I'm ambitious enough to be tackling Portuguese, too, and honestly have been having more fun with that. Sim, eu gostu da língua, mos augumas coisas são difíciu.

** though what Battenberg Cake-style sociological qualifiers should be thrown onto that? "Upper-ish-middle-class WEIRD?" Might make some Bay Area out-there leftists and rightists happy with that one.

 echos~ has heard me go on about this before, so props to her 'far as that goes.
Also, a reminder that  auradeva is offering speed paints and streams
and  sailoranna will soon be moving from StarFox offers to another "wall".

I've been organizing stuff both iRL and on my computer lately, and would like to share some downloads I've been holding onto for too long. All being well, I wish to go at my old pace of one upload per day, as opposed to a flood. It won't last forever, of course, but looks like it will be going for a while!

Most of these pictures're going to be ones from the previous decade by
 ssninc http://www.furaffinity.net/commissions/ssninc/
and  cherushi http://www.furaffinity.net/view/21099672/
and pics from this decade by
 general-irrelevant https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7717021/
 SketchRedTiger https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8357706/
and  sailoranna (one third of month left for that popular Krystal Appreciation theme!)

I'd like to point out to everybody that
 crab-pinches https://www.furaffinity.net/commiss...../crab-pinches/
and  auradeva http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8363255/
are looking for commissioners, too.

It's been a while since I uploaded anything, and I've been sitting on a gradually growing pile. Rather than try and flood everything at once, however, I'm going to try a pace of about one per day starting today. I think we're looking at enough to last the rest of the month, but we'll see!

Starting here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/20790797/

Thank you, Sailor Anna, for my previous icon (cropped from this cute, however NSFW image). Thank you, Boss Hoss, for my now-current one. It is based off the interface of Crusader Kings 2 of which I've actually found myself preferring this mod together with The Horse Lords over the recent Conclave update. For what it's worth, that Coat of Arms comes from a duchy in Italy, but I asked Hoss to use it in the pic since it resembles one of my favorite flags.

This year, I know I've been quiet on FA in particular and offline/off the computer in general. To some of you, I owe written stories. I also owe it to some of you hard-working colorists out there to start uploading some pics: commission works which others have done for me but aren't posted elsewhere. At any rate, feel free to drop a line all friendly-like through here or through private notes, and I will try to keep up ^_^ How is everyone doing?

... belatedly by a day for most folks in Asia, and belatedly by a month in Japan. The last one, 2002, was exceptionally kind to me, so I hope for at least some of the same this time around, as well ^_^;

This current icon of mine, F5 where applicable, is courtesy of
 felineelement
. The previous, shy, blushy one by
 thecreator10490
served me well for a long time, too, so yunz ("you ones", everyone out there) be sure to check those two out!

For you folks who see something odd: the normal hanzi/hanja/kanji/Chinese pictograph for horse is 馬 , while in the context of the Chinese zodiac, the character is 午 , which confusingly looks like 牛 , or ox/cattle. Well, confusingly for me, anyway --X=P

At any rate, there are some folks I've been out of touch with and ought to get back to. I've not been very social the past year and a half or so, and my memory on some things is rusty.

A number of you might be watching me because you have me confused with
 ssninc
, who's drawn a number of commissions for me over the years, the earliest ones of which I've got posted here. If that is the case you choose to drop me from your watch list, no hard feelings. Later this year -- and probably after a trip I've got coming up, so in the spring or summer -- I'd like to start posting some other old commissions I got... with the permission of the artists in question, of course. As is (rather, as of the time I post this, for anyone looking back), even after a general art purge by one or two artists I once followed, most commissions I've gotten can be found on my Favorites page.

Also after the trip, I think I might post journals more often. I've already written a few longhand, and will just be transcribing/posting those ones here. I did tweak this journal, and have altered another old one by a friend's request. However, I have not actually removed any of the journals I've posted since 2005, so you have some idea of what to expect, if you look to the side. There are things going on iRL which I'd rather not go into, for the most part. While I'm fine with talking about religion and politics など (and such), I usually prefer to do so one-on-one or in small groups than over open fora. That leaves random less-contentious thoughts, escapist things, perhaps memories of junk from the past which continue to make me happy. Although I've already got a list, do any of you have requests?

Long time no see, for most of you out there!

I'll be going to BronyCon this coming weekend with my long-time friend, Hoss. Is anyone else reading this heading to Baltimore as well?

Also, I have updated my contact information, in case any of you at some point've tried to get hold of me through defunct addies of mine ^_^; I can be a hard man to reach at times, so it is nothing personal.

Hello again, everyone. By now, I've probably updated my profile, and I am indeed no longer adjacent to Kyoto. On top of that, I'm momentarily the proverbial Loser in His Mom's Basement... although, after the better part of a decade living on my own, overseas (seven and a half years in Japan, along with another half-year before that, with eight months in Sweden in-between), I think I have relatively little to apologize for ->:=P

Some of you have been hearing from me already, though I do owe an apology to some of you who were out of the loop. Among those who were kept in the loop, I'll be meeting up with one of you again this coming month, and am looking forward to it very much! There is one other East Coast fur who might not be happy about my return... Rest assured, I have zero intention or desire to bother anybody who does not want to be bothered.

Well, that phrasing was a little redundant around the end. At any rate, it is good to be posting here again. For the past eleven months or so I was tempted to write more FA journals, about various things, while I was still in Japan. At the time, though, the thought of leaving the (non-Suid-Afrika) beloved country after so long made me all the more melancholy and unmotivated. That was a little selfish and lazy on my part, maybe, but it's possible I'll reminisce eventually. A lot of you folks who watch me say you like my writing, and I really ought to give you more -<:=)

For one thing, I guess I could post about Reverse Culture Shock when it hits. (No, that's not a joke; it's a real occurrence.) Reviews of the occasional movies and old video game may pop up, too!

I was tempted to make a (shorter-than-this) post before "the superstorm", as some media folks were calling it for a time. Considered were bilingual titles like
arashi ga KURU
"I feel the storm; it's coming!"
from Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_otEXNJ8oo#t=4m32s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDLWKsr0sMc#t=4m40s

konya wa hurricane
"Tonight, a hurricane."
from the original Bubblegum Crisis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOYZhUlISt8

, but a more appropriate tense now would be this line and a half from Shima Uta Hyojungo Version:
sakimidare / kaze wo yobi arashi ga kita
(plantlife) scattered / by the wind, which came, called by the storm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7ggJquImms

, with considerable context stripped from each of those, granted! As you can see, I ended up going with a shorter, different title, anyfuu. (As a sidenote, I know that just a couple of you read kana and fewer read kanji, but I do miss my Japanese keyboard a little already --X=P )

Property damage was minimal here, both despite and thanks to a little luck, but a little nastier elsewhere in the neighborhood. (The electricity was out for a little while, but for a much shorter time than I’d expected, honestly -- kudos to the power-working folks!) Having beautiful old oak trees around is a mixed blessing, for sure. It was scary at times, but I hope everyone else out there's all right, too!

On a furrier note- er, on furrier notes?

 auradeva
, who also had a big move a while back, made a delightful if groan-worthy and not-worksafe-in-the-least commentary on the name “Sandy”:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9137025/
(Personally I'm surprised not to see more Spongebob-based punny commentary from squirrely folks here on FA, but I guess that's just my inbox.)
She also sent me some originals through the mail of my past commissions from her! You can find said commissions very easily and easily/soon if you click on my Favorites folder ^_^ (They are all even within the first 36, as of the time I post this journal.)

 cherushi
, one of my all-time favorite FA artists, is currently taking commissions... though only for a short time, so I'd recommend getting a slot, if you can, while you have the chance ^_^ She's also rereposting some of her old work/content, which I also love, and recommend checking out!
http://www.furaffinity.net/scraps/cherushi/

 lilyness
is taking commissions again, as well, possibly longer-term than Cheru is. Like mine, her life seems to be picking up, and I wish her a better year this year than the past two.

 mokusei_kaze
has had commissions open for a while. Starting more recently, she's been doing an interesting feature with her (non-Cameronian) avatar:
http://askmoku.tumblr.com/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9135163/
She had invited me to join before, and I have been missing out by not taking her up on it right away.

 sailoranna
is doing streams again, and I'm finally able to watch them, too ^_^ At least more often than I had been, when my schedule was more chaotic... and in a time zone on the other side of the earth.

 creamytea
also has very reasonably priced commissions. She's someone I learned about during one of Sailor Anna's streams, when SA was looking up a reference for one of the many-chara "walls". CT is also fun to talk to, and gives more thought to her characters than she even realizes, I think!

 ariana_wolfmare
has a new business, making all-natural soap. She's also got other things going on, but it would be better for her to talk about, well, her. If/When she wants to --:=)

 freakyrockfox
, last but not least, has got a cute thing going on here
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3968326/
which I have copyca- er, -possumed hee-ya:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3979397/

[edited to fix typoes(sic), and I'm gonna need to post something new tomorrow, while it's 12/12/12!]

For those of you who do happen to read this, what you see here is my first time ever passing on one of those chain-letter-type internet posts.

From  freakyrockfox ,
1. Tell you something I learned about by looking at your FA page for 13 seconds
2. Tell you a color you remind me of
3. Tell you my first memory of you
4. Ask you a question
5. Tell you something I like about you
6. Tell you the object that is to the left of me
7. Dare you to do this yourself in your journal

For him, [url=http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/.....#cid:29514610]
number seven[/url] in this list carries A Christmas Story-level stakes,
but for me, it's just the regular kind of dare --X=P

Post here, and I'll get back to you! *answering machine beep*

We're three-quarters to four-fifths of the way through this Chinese Lunar Year. I'm a Metal Rooster, and supposedly a Metal Rabbit year like this one is the worst possible for me. Well, the very beginning of it sure kicked my butt on a personal level... soon followed for more serious and impersonal reasons by the rest of Japan!

I hear that things have gotten better in the Tohoku region and also, more disconcertingly, that Japan's next big quake will probably be in my region. If I move, however, it will not be because of that risk. My new job has been good to me so far, for one thing.

On lighter notes! If you look on my favorites page
http://www.furaffinity.net/favorites/unilaocorn/
, you will see quite a number of pictures, mostly commissions, that are new as of the time I posted my last journal. Admittedly, most of them with blue or red borders. Some of them even form little sequential stories: worded comics, wordless comics, sometimes wordless comics formed across submissions by certain artists ^_^


Starting off: fellow Metal Rooster  auradeva has started a new job of her own, and I wish us both the best of luck. She's also resumed her long-running comic,  sandtodust , right here on FA. Recommended if you like cityscapes, cute facial expressions, and are OK with M/M.


The Known Kadath, as I have taken to calling  kadath , released a hardcopy comic of his own a couple of weeks ago.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6472943/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6449524/
Despite being M/F, it brought back memories of ASB for me, with both sex and character development going on simultaneously in one's bedroom. He had a character-driven freebie comic going on for a little while,
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5432522/
tae
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5476542/
and I hope he resumes it ^_^


Also living in Boise (which I only lately learned is pronounced BOY-see), lives such interesting characters as, in alphabetical order: Angel; Doctor, The; Kampai Suchi; Mokusei no Kaze; and Technicandy (whose name I also only lately learned is not pronounced like that of your run-of-the-mill mill person).
 missangelab  thedoktor  kampaisuchi  mokusei_kaze  technicandy
They were very gracious hosts to me this summer, and even sucked me into a... metal rabbit hole?
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6535787/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6554444/
Red pill, blue pill, or Sheng-Ji Yang, they too are working on a comics project which is especially ambitious. (I've seen work for it live and on streams, but not on FA yet.) I got to sit in on some of the brainstorming sessions. While I don't think I personally contributed anything they're going to want to use, I look forward to seeing what comes of their project, and I hope you do, too.


During my summer trip, I also got to spend a little to a lot of time with Texas furs  alonira and  sailoranna . It was my bright idea to visit during an actual and even-longer-than-usual drought, but I hope they forgave me for the outdoor adventures I sometimes put each of them through. Together, the three of us at least got to play a game of Settlers of Catan in the air-conditioned indoors. (In the words of a knight who's also a sheep: "You want me to do what for wood?") To finish once again on a comics-related note, though, Sailor Anna has a long-running title up:
http://rayne.servehttp.com/
I unfortunately let myself fall out of touch with a number of folks here on FA, including  arianawolfmare and  ssninc . They are each taking commissions, so please take a look!


I've had fun watching Shane's streams when my schedule worked out. Same for the streams hosted by Sailor Anna, Mokusei no Kaze, and Technicandy. More recently, I've had the chance to enjoy  skidd 's and  phsuke 's, when I have the right day of the week off. Skidd is working on a comic... I think. I'm not too sure ^_^;


As for other reasons for journal entries, I've been thinking about sharing random things about Japan and the Japanese language. In addition, not necessarily related to Japan, I've been thinking about posting reviews of random old movies and things. What would you like to see, if I start posting journals more often here?