Thank Heaven, the Moon and Greywolf, I actually am getting the time off to attend Texas Furry Fiesta! My friend  vvolf has said he'll pick me up on Thursday, and then I have time off through Monday. Sweet, blessed ,relaxing time away from work and family.

In other news:

* Finally have purchased almost everything to have a complete suit. No, not a fursuit -- don't I wish -- but a suit that's good enough for interviews and special occasions. Two shirts, a pair of shoes, several ties and a new dress belt are trundling their way wolf-wards from the fine folks at JCPenney.com. (Along with a new pair of khakis -- no idea what happened to the old ones.)

* Buying a new tail. Found GetElusiveStudios, a fur in Montana who makes tails with a metal "spine" inside them so they sway and twitch correctly while you're moving. I wish I could have had it for the con, but that's what I get fir leaving the order so late -- he's off to Canada and won't be back until 3/26.

* Still deciding what to get with my birthday money. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get supplements for Myriad Song and Hc Svnt Dracones -- Second Edition is still a ways out -- but beyond that I'm looking at a good business-style watch, a dice tower and maybe a dice pouch. $75 gives so much flexibility...

Oof. Now that I've had some sleep...

Thankfully, it turned out she'd turned off the service road and gone into a Wal-Mart. (Her husband did the smart thing and located her iPad.) She's home for now, at least, but isn't making any promises about the future.

Oof... my typing stinks right now, but at least my proofreading is improving...

Nobody told me this while I was at work, mind you, and I really wish they had. As it was, I spent most of the night worrying myself into nearly vomiting. My fear response may be busted, but stress works just fine.

But... yeah. She's home, safe and sound. No word yet on whether she'll forgive me, or whether I may be looking for a new job and new home. We... didn't talk when I got home this morning. Not beyond my saying, "I'm glad you're back. And now I'm going to bed before I say something stupid."

Thanks again, everyone. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

(hobbles over to a seat, legs still sore from walking somewhere in the neighborhood of five miles. (I can't check it -- the place I finally stopped isn't on the map.))

ETA: I am forgiven... and my sister is repaying me the $40 of gas it took during my fruitless search.

(stumbles in, footsore and cross-eyed from exhaustion)

I'm.. sorry to resurrect this thread, and sorrier that I need to. It's just...

My sister's run away from home.

Sounds like a joke, right? But no, my player's perfectly serious -- and would be perfectly frantic if his fear response hadn't burned out -- in saying that at this moment, a one-legged 45-year-old woman is rumbling --

(checks directions twice)

-- westward on the service road of Highway 80. We don't know if she's still in Forney, even -- this body's not bilt for speed even before hitting 270 pounds, so her electric wheelchair left us in the dust, having been cranked to top speed.

Leaving aside a panic response -- oh, I wish -- her disappearance takes away even more than her physical presence and one of my paychecks. Without her living here, several thousand dollars worth of property taxes come due at the same time, plus we lose a chunk of the food stamps and the disability payments.

We --

We had a fight. I told her flat out that I felt I was only kept around for my money, and that she'd ruined for me the belief that people who marry each other have any sort of love for each other. That she'd ruined all of my beliefs about what I thought I wanted in life.

At least the last thing I said that she responded to was, "I love you".

Even if the response was a comtemtuous "Why?".

Lord, watch over her, please. If my player's fear response was working, he'd sound more frantic and less angry, but he's scared half to death, okay? His one-legged sister is out there, her catheter bag hanging from her chair, and only You know where she's gotten to.

(wipes eyes)

I tried to keep up, I tried... and by the time Phil got to me with the van, she was gone.

Please, please pray for her!

Not a fun year, overall. Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Richard Adams... so many people that I grew up watching, all gone on before.

I suppose that's going to decrease, of course -- not too many of them left for me to mourn. 9.9

Anyway, just figured I'd make a little video to say goodbye to this year and hello to the next one. I have to do it before midnight, though -- I have to be at work as a server by 10:00 P.M. (That's 2200 hours military time.) Once it's finished rendering, I'll pop it up on my account at YouTube, located beyond this link.

Happy New Year, everyfurry! May the next year be a darn sight better than the last!

Well, you know the rest. Turned out the issue with the car was a carabiner lodged against the battery clamp, shorting the whole mess. (And if you wonder why there was a carabiner there, it's a sensible question -- the battery is normally held in by a single band of thin metal, so we had to rig up a support structure to avoid road damage while in motion. This turned out to be bungees, thus the carabiner, thus the problem.)

Thanks anyway, everyone -- at least we've finally got the car home and working. Now we just wait for the garage to finish fixing the van, and then we'll have two working vehicles again.

Anyone in Texas near Forney? The car's got a loose battery cable, and I can't seem to jiggle it back into position -- it's currently stuck in the parking lot at Kroger. (I got a ride home from some friendly people who were willing to help me, but they couldn't get the car running, either.) Failing that, I'd take some help getting my niece home, later... she spent the night at a friend's house.

I gotta get that battery clamp fixed...

o/I'm so glad we had this time together,
Just to have a laugh and sing a song.
Seems we just get started and before you know it,
It's the time we have to say, So Long. \o

It's been a good Bash, as my lack of updates and commentary should indicate. We had so much going on, I could only work in time for my Bashlogs to the TSA-talk mailing list and do a little webcomic speed-reading.

Air Force Museum: Dayton, OH holds the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Covering everything from the Montgolfier balloon flight to Air Force One (all of them), the place is HUGE! By the end, I was the only one not falling over tired.

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium: Not a small place either. The Mexican Wolves were looking good, the otters were in prime shape (both Asian small-clawed and the Zootopia-appearing North American river), and everyone was enjoying themselves. Okay, we all got a bit roasted in the summer sun, but we knew the job was dangerous when we took it, Fred...

o/ There's a time we set aside for dreaming,
And a time for things we have to do.
But the time I like the best is any evening,
Just to sit and say that I Love You. \o

I ran an RPG session of Hc Svnt Dracones for the first time, MattRat read to us all from Poul Anderson's "Past Times", and we went to Ballantrae Park to see the statue, "Dancing Hares". (It makes for an interesting Bash photo. Sadly, my camera died upon arrival in Ohio, letting out all the magic smoke with a scent not unlike that of a burnt match. So, no pictures from me.

o/ Whenever I'm feeling lonely,
When I'm feeling Oh, so blue,
I just sit back and think of you only,
And the happiness shines through. \o

We dawdled over lunch, squeezing our allotted time dry so we could have just a few more minutes, a few more seconds... but eventually, we all had to go. Rabbit and Kanren are bound for Yellowstone with Fulminar, Koko and Dragon de Monsyne had long drives ahead of them, and Viqsi couldn't hang around all day -- which is why I've been here at the Columbus airport for three hours and have three more ahead of me before departure.

It's always sad to bring a Bash to an end, no matter how much fun we have. To have to go back to being so far apart, unable to touch and hug and comfort each other. In my case, back to the screaming, chaotic mess that is my family. 9.9 I do love them... they're just kind of hard to like sometimes.

o/ I'm so glad we had this time together,
Just to have a laugh and sing a song.
Seems we just get started and, before we know it,
It's the time we have to say...
So Long. \o

Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll talk to everyone later, okay?

Yours truly,

The wistful,

Wanderer

It's that time of year again, and I'm off to the TSA-Bash, the annual gathering for members of the Transformation Story Archive Mailing List, TSA-Talk. (Non-members are welcome, too. We'll just turn you into members later... )

This year's gathering is in lovely Dublin, Ohio. Named for the city in Ireland by a loyal son of Eire, it's home to the Dancing Hares art installation, seen here. (If I can get a pic in furson, I'll post it.)

The trip's been slightly eventful so far. Tons-o-traffic on the way in thanks to road construction turning a four-lane highway into a one-lane road on I-30 westbound. The usual bag shuffling at the screening. And a partial patdown because a silly wolf who shall remain Wanderer furgot to take a much-loved geocoin out of his pocket. (Nothing too disturbing, sorry. Pockets, back and back pockets, that's it.) Now here I sit at gate 19 in terminal C for the next...

(checks clock)

... two hours. 9.9 The other TSA (we had the name before the Transportation Safety Administration ever existed) tells you to show up at least two hours before your flight. At least it gives me time to cool off and rehydrate a bit -- the air conditioner in the car has a seized compressor, and the van's fuel pump gave out last week, so I had a sweat-soaked drive in at a toasty 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius). My sister's husband, may Greywolf nip at his heels, didn't feel like driving and I didn't feel like arguing -- I just felt like performing the Shepherd maneuver and getting the flock out of there.

. . .

(happy sigh)

Five days away. Five days of actually being able to sleep without my sister and her family holding a shouting match on the other side of the wall from my pillow. Five days of not working night and day to help support a family of five.

(hums -- sings)

o/ "Oh don't you dare look back,
Just keep your eyes on me."
I said, "You're holding back."
She said, "Shut up and dance with me."
This woman is my destiny.
She said, whoo-oo-oo!
"Shut up and dance with me!" \o

Trying to figure out what to do with a $25 gift card I got for my birthday. Here's the list so far:

Myriad Aliens PDF ($9.95) + HSD: Core Extended PDF ($13.99): $23.94
Dice Tower (Castle from Top Shelf Gamer, $18.95) + shipping ($4.00): $22.95
Knock Down Dice Tower (TrollManufacturing, custom coat of arms, $17.50) + shipping ($4.50): $22.00
Dice Tower (Wood, Here Be Books and Games, $17.00) + shipping ($6.80): $23.80
One Heroforge miniature (strong plastic, $14.99) + shipping ($5.00): $19.99
Ash wand (WoodEverImagine, $15.00) + shipping ($2.60): $17.60
Pathfinder/Numenera/Cypher System PDF (Monte Cook Games, $19..99): $19.99
RHJunior Archival DVD: $19.99 +$2 S&H: $21.99

Any suggestions?

It's faster to get on the Internet through Tigerden -- no shock to anyone who's experienced what furry cons do to hotel Internet connections -- so I'm posting from the hallways of the second floor as I type. (And correcting typos as I go -- these little netbooks are nice, but the accent is on "little".)

I started the day at 7 A.M. Not because I'm a fan of early rising -- I'm not -- but because the Furrywood voice acting workshop was at 8 A.M. and I wanted to have breakfast. (The recording sessions, including a few software-originated bloopers, can be heard at http://www.furrywood.com if you're interested.) Other than the software starting to record when nobody was clicking on it, things went pretty smoothly. (In addition, I got the notes I couldn't take at the previous night's panel on sound recording, scribbled on the back of my script.)

After that, it was off to see Zootopia at the Plano location of Studio Movie Grill. Sadly, I missed Nick Wilde's speech to Chief Bogo -- according to the folks on TVTropes, it's epic -- but otherwise, this movie is an absolutely furry movie. It takes on the issues of species stereotypes, multiple climate zones -- Zootopia has 12 within the city limits -- and the blatant issues of 10% of the population being descended from creatures that used to eat the other 90%. The writing is tight, the casting is perfect, the soundtrack is amazing even without counting Shakira's "Try Everything" (which has one heck of a catchy bassline and a beat anyone can dance to) and every scene is so loaded with extras that even TVTropes hasn't found them all.

Naturally, this led to there being two versions of Nick Wilde in the fursuit parade -- one accurate, one pantsless -- alongside two versions of Rocket Raccoon -- one classic, one movie -- and of course an assortment of Star Wars furs. (Mostly Jedi, of course. I counted one Imperial Foxtrooper, one Imperial Office-fur, and one dark Force-user.)

Motion Capture (another Furrywood panel) isn't until 6:30 P.M., so we'll see what can be done between now and then. Certainly, I don't lack for dinner companions -- Rabbit and Kanren are here from the Transformation Story Archive mailing list TSA-Talk, and we're regularly joined by fellow listmembers Omnifox and Firemane, as well as TFF's own Aloha.

This is so great!

Well, it's that time of year again -- not only am I older by one full orbit of the sun, but Texas Furry Fiesta is back once more! : vvolf: was nice enough to grant me both transportation and a berth in his room again this year -- he's wonderful that way -- so I'm happily ensconced at the Intercontinental for the weekend.

Niot much happening at the moment, of course -- opening ceremonies aren't 'til noon -- but it's already been great to see faces old and new, take the furry survey's latest iteration, and -- to be honest -- get some sleep far away from my family. (I love them, but the only time we have a silent night is when we sing it.)

Breakfast was the hot buffet at Q de Cheval, of course... yummy and all-you-can-eat. :9 Now, with little to do, I await the rising of others and (hopefurry) a chance to run out and buy more AAA batteries -- between my camera and my Necomimi (with Pawstar wolf pup ears), the ones I brought are already dead.

Until later!

Well, you know that box of animal-snout straws 7-11 was sending me?

. . .

I apparently misunderstood. When they said "box", I understood "box".

They meant "case"... of two boxes... each containing 40 straws.

(shrug)

Well, I finally have something to donate to the charity auction at Texas Furry Fiesta... a box of forty (40) assorted animal-snout straws (Wolf, Fox, Cat, Eagle).

(Hey, leaving aside that I have to get my wolf-snout straw, there's no way the rest of my family is letting this opportunity go by. )

Earlier this month, a 7-11 wolf-snout straw I bought back in June (during the TSA Bash in Buffalo, NY) went astray. I can't find it, can't find any at the local stores, nothing. So I finally e-mailed the company.

. . .

Would you believe I should be receiving an entire box of them in the mail tomorrow?

Well, it took almost a full month, but I finally made my selections for the $100 gift card I received this past Christmas. Da Winnahs!

1. Necomimi Brainwave Ears: A little something I've wanted for a while, especially when paired with:

2. Pawstar Wolf Cub Ear Sleeves. In my color, even! And finally...

3. A pocket watch with wolves on it, just because.

Of course, they won't arrive until the end of the month, but at least the'll get here... and I promise to post a video of the ears.

Welcome to 2016, everyfurry. Here's hoping the new year and its challenges will be even better than what's gone before.

Sorry for the long silence -- again (^.^;;) -- but work has been "interesting". (As in, if anyone in the area of Forney is a fast-food cook or willing to become one, PLEASE contact me...) In any event...

After Christmas, (and after I get home from work -- I don't get Christmas off), I'll be headed up to Tennessee for Rabbit's New Year's Bash. Hope-furry we can have another video message like last year. I'm hoping to have some pictures to show off, as well -- I'll be flying on a turboprop plane for the furst time, courtesy of Boutique Air. (Since they fly lower and slower than jets, I should be able to take shots of the ground we're flying over. Not that this reassures my sister, who would feel better if I was flying over water, but still...)

After that, I'm scheduled to attend Texas Furry Fiesta, held this next year from March 11 to March 13. (Cajun) De t'eme she be 'Night' on de Bayou'. You want submit un histoire, maybe iun petit picture, dey be right happy, homme. (/Cajun)

(I kid. Texas has bayous, too -- White Oak, Greens, Brays, and even the mother bayou herself, Buffalo Bayou. But Louisiana gets a lot more attention than we do for stuff like that. Probably because they created the word "bayou".)

Hopefully I can pick up a few things between now and then to have an even furrier con. I'm looking at getting a tail from The Tail Company, and maybe some ears from Necomimi (along with some brown Wolf Cub ear covers from Pawstar, of course).

(grumble) Now if only I wasn't funding the entire household... I love my sister and her family, but aren't they supposed to use the disability money for most stuff?

Anyway, in case I don't get back on before the holiday hits, A very furry Christmas to you all!

Just taking a little time to wish everyone a Happy Halloween, now that I've recovered my laptop from where my nephew decided to see how well it hooked up to the TV in the main room. No harm done, but I really wish he'd stop running off with my stuff!

(I couldn't lock my door when I went to work last night. One of the cats had run into my room. The rest is the natural consequence of having a nephew who doesn't respect personal property unless you're there in person to protect it.)

Sadly, it looks like I don't get to hand out candy at home tonight after all -- we're running low on servers, so they need me to come in at 8 instead of 10 tonight. I'll still try and get some better pictures of my costume, though.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys the holiday. Whether you celebrate the original Samhain (that's pronounced /SOW-en/), the Catholic All-Hallows Eve or the celebration of costumes and candy that is the modern Halloween, I hope you have fun!

And look to the moon tonight. She's singing.

Yours truly,

The gainfully employed (with an accent on "gain" )

Wanderer

I figured I might as well fill you folks in on an upcoming episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Monster Musical.

First, let's get this out of the way: Yes, I watch kid's shows. My life is to complicated for me to hang around waiting for continuity to happen, too full of drama for me to enjoy drama, and too full of other people for me to watch what I want except at odd hours of the day when nobody else wants the television. So yes, kid's shows. MMC is highly episodic, so I can abandon it when someone yells for me without losing much, if anything.

So, about the episode: It's basically MMC-does-a-clean-Rocky-Horror, beginning from the first song. Mickey and Minnie go out for a picnic, take a wrong turn, can't get back to the Clubhouse because of a fallen tree branch, and then (in true horror movie tradition) the Toon Car breaks down, so they start out for the castle to see if they can get help.

Shades of Bobby "Boris" Pickett's old musical, I'm Sorry, the Bridge is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night! (Better known as the movie, Monster Mash.)

This being a Halloween episode, they find a castle filled with monster counterparts of most of the cast:

Count Mickula: Well, he drinks grape juice, but you didn't think you were going to see blood on this show, did you? Also doesn't turn into a bat to fly, but then he's already a flying mouse at that point...

Doctor von Drakenstein: Mad-scientist counterpart to Professor Ludwig von Drake (or is that redundant). Get ready for lampshaded scare chords every time they mention his laboratory...

Goofy Monster: Fans of Goof Troop have seen this character design before as the Franken-Goof Monster -- Goofy's head shape makes him a natural for this guy. Has a tendency to scare himself.

Ghost Donald and Ghost Daisy: Nothing terribly complicated here, though Donald seems to have trouble remembering he can't carry stuff through walls...

Boo-dles: Yet another Distaff Counterpart to Toodles, this one wears a sheet to look ghostly. Dispenses the Monster Mouseketools for the occasion.

Madame Clarabelle: A gratuitous-French-speaking version, harking back to the Phantom of the Opera (though without a mask).

All told, only two Clubhouse regulars don't get counterparts from "Clubhousylvania". (Yes, they went there.): Minnie and Pete. Those of you who like the big, burly toon will be happy to know that Pete gets another song, as well as a transformation sequence -- he's his own counterpart, appearing as a friendly werewolf. (Keep an eye on the costume damage -- he winds up wearing an approximation of the Big Bad Wolf's outfit from The Three Little Pigs.)

(I know, it could be a spoiler -- but to be honest, they put it in the commercial.)

The episode is currently available on DVD (alongside other episodes such as "Mickey's Pirate Adventure" (featuring Dick Van Dyke), "Mickey's Farm Fun Fair" and the Minnie's Bow-Toons episode, "Tricky Treats"). Or, if you get the right channel, it's airing next week. (I've got it set to record, of course.)

Overall, it looks to be a decent episode -- but then, it's directed by Donovan Cook, who gave us Return to Neverland. Not a bad recommendation, that.

... and hopefully someone will actually comment this time. Anyway...

Halloween approaches, and my old costume is on the outs. Twelve years is a bit much for any commercial costume, and some of his orange dye has gone green -- it's time to replace him.

Since they don't make Bear in the Big Blue House costumes anymore, I'm considering other options. Currently I have three ideas, though I'm welcome to any input on the subject. (In other words, if you think you have a better idea, by all means tell me! ) The options in mind at this time are:

1. Plus-Size Big Bad Wolf, from California Costumes. This costume should just fit my 48-inch waist, and he's certainly the right species (if not the right color) for me. On the down side, he's known to shed -- and one of the cats accidentally bloodied my niece the last time I had a costume with full face coverage. Admittedly, that one was a snarling werewolf, but still...

2. Plus-Size Bear from Fun Costumes. Available in XXXL to fit my well-fed frame, this costume would definitely be able to keep up with my appetite. I'd have to pair it with a bear nose, though, which might not be the right color. (One of the girls at work likes this costume idea.)

3. A Necomimi with Pawstar's Wolf Cub ear sleeves (in timber wolf, of course), paired with a wagging tail. Not a bad idea -- I could even pair it with a wolf nose if I wanted to -- but finding anyone that still makes wagging tails is proving difficult.

So... what do you think?

I really should have posted this sooner, but Buck Hopper (co-creator of the Furry Basketball Association) has posted the Texas Furry Fiesta 2015 Voice Acting Workshop fur all to hear. I think I did all right -- I'm in Scene 5, from "The Blur Effect", voicing a teenage cheetah superhero -- but how'd I do?

Heh... I'm tempted to get Buck's permission and edit in appropriate music and sound effects.

... and I do mean "at last". The flight to CLT (Charlotte, NC) was okay, but I almost couldn't fly back to Texas!

Flight 890 at Gate B3: Engine 2 won't supply power to the cabin. Can't fix it (and goodness knows they tried), so we need a new plane.

Gate B10: The jetway doesn't work. Next!

Gate B12: Success! Two hours late, but at least we finally got off the ground! (Not that they had much choice. I overheard that US Airways doesn't have any hotel partnerships in Charlotte, so actually putting us up at a hotel would have been really expensive.)

Now, as soon as I catch my ride home, I get a very little sleep and then wake up to get my nephew off to school.

(sigh) It's good to be home?

Well, I leave for D/FW airport tomorrow afternoon. Still a bit more packing to do, but at least I've got most of my stuff ready for the trip.

On the one paw, of course, I always get nervous leaving my sister and her family alone. As much as I get tired of being stuck in their house, I do love them and care about what happens to them.

On, the other paw, of course...

(bouncebouncebounce) I'm going on a trip! Yay! :-D

Anyway, I'll likely be offline until I land in Buffalo tomorrow night -- airline Wi-Fi costs a premium -- so I'll see everyone later!

I do so love a good pun. Not that I ever make any, but still...

Just a little journal to let everyone know I'll be in Buffalo, NY -- okay, the suburb of Cha-... Cha-...

(looks it up again, darn it)

... Cheektowaga, NY -- from June 10 to June 15 for the annual TSA-Bash!

For those who know me here and not there, the TSA-Bash is a gathering of the members of the online writer's mailing list, TSA-Talk, a list devoted to tales of transformation, started originally as an adjunct to the somewhat inactive Transformation Story Archive.

(Which I'm supposed to be running these days, if a certain Dragon ever remembers to reset the password and let me know what it is...)

This year, we're gathering at the Millennium Hotel Buffalo, right next door to the Walden Galleria. (This is unusual for us. Usually we have to walk about a mile for a restaurant. You should see how far we've walked just for Chinese take-out before.) We're not a very large convention, so feel free to swing by and meet the writers.

You know, you never realize how thoroughly ingrained a skill is until you have to use it.

Last night's business peaked early, so by 3 am the only customers were a man, his wife and their sleeping baby. The adults were sharing the two-egg country-fried steak breakfast, when suddenly...

huk huk huk...

I knew that sound too well, having been choke-prone in my childhood. Sure enough, the man was trying to gasp for air, a piece of the steak stuck in his throat. His wife was trying to apply the Heimlich Maneuver, but between his waist and her bust, she wasn't getting her hands into position. Finally, she stepped back and I went to work.

It was like slipping into a comfortable old shoe, the way I remembered the moves. Wrap the arms around the person (I was already past the "se if they're choking" stage, after all), clasp hands together over diaphragm, thrust in and up...

... and just like that, the food popped free. (Also, I popped his back. And pulled a muscle in my neck. But hey, it worked!)

Of course, I spent the rest of the night trying not to talk about the Heimlich Maneuver, since my adrenaline-addled brain insisted on running through every single variation of the method, but still...

---

In other news, it looks like I'll be going to the TSA-Bash this year for definite. Still hammering out details, but it looks like a "go" from here on out.

That's right! A week from today, this wandering wolf turns 45 years of age! I'm already starting to plan the party, of course . . .

* The cake, from the bakery of our local Brookshire's grocery (they make great cakes) will feature art from my good friend  luprand. (This year, I'm paying him for it. He's been very kind to do it for free the last few years, but he really does deserve the $20 for his hard work.)

* The party will likely be at the local Huddle House where I work. That way I can share the cake with my co-workers. .

* The tricky part is deciding what to buy for my present. I always make sure to have a wide range of gift choices, from $3 (Hc Svnt Dracones RPG, PDF) to $70 (Necomimi animatronic ears + Pawstar wolf cub ear sleeves (brown)). Since I'm the only one with semi-disposable income, though, I have to buy my own present... which really ruins the surprise.

Currently, I'm leaning toward getting a nice HD webcam, since that would let me use FaceRig... but we'll see.