Just over a month ago I preregistered for Anthrocon 2012, which will be my next convention. This is the first year I will be getting my own room. And today was the day the Pittsburgh hotels opened up for reservations. At 9am this morning, I made an earnest effort to get in at the Marriott Courtyard, but after repeated messages saying "Not available for the dates you have selected," I assumed they were already fully booked (as hard as it was to believe) so I gave up. And, good thing I did, as I found out later that the Courtyard did indeed sell out... within seconds of opening. Holy crap.

Next I tried for the Doubletree, but the transaction would not go through the final step. I called the assistance telephone number on the screen, and they helped me make the reservation, later confirmed by email. So now, I'm all set. Funny, the Doubletree was actually my first choice (roomed with Nezu there in 2009 and I liked it), but it's a little far to walk in a full fursuit so I was trying to get into the Courtyard first, with it being so close. But, the Courtyard sold out, so I ended up getting the Doubletree anyway, albeit 3 blocks away. No problem at all for me to walk this distance normally, but in a fursuit it could be a problem if it's hot or rainy, or if it's 2am. But, I shall have to make due. That's assuming I have a full fursuit by the time of the con. I at least hope to have a partial... we shall see how it goes... after considering commissioning several different fursuit makers, I've decided I'm going to try to make it myself.

Next step- examine the preliminary pattern I've designed, and get my fur ordered.

[Note: Unfortunately, I don't have time to write, process and upload photos like I used to. Sorry to say, life has been increasingly stressful this past year, especially this last week of December. I had visited Lake Tobias back in October and have some nice lion pictures from that visit, but will now probably skip that report altogether, as I just do not have the time to do it. But I definitely wanted to journal my birthday celebration (3 months ago), so here it is finally, better late than never!]

Delaware Furbowl 30 was held on September 24, 2011. This being my birthday weekend, I decided to go to this FurstState event to celebrate. While no one there knew that it was my birthday, I knew that being out and about with fursuiters at this quality event would be the ultimate birthday party.

( Continue, with 20 pictures from Furbowl 30... )

I've been scarce this month as for me the Christmas holiday pretty much takes the entire month of December, spanning from the day after Thanksgiving on through New year's day.  Lights & music, it's beautiful, I love it!  And, I can't do everything anymore and need to let go of some things to slow things down a little so I can enjoy this wonderful season.  So that meant little interaction on the internet, which greatly limits my LJ and FA presence.

Today, on Christmas Eve, I'm listening to "The Night Before" radio show on WXPN FM radio.  I discovered this show 2 years ago looking for Christmas music, and added it to my yearly tradition.  They play all kinds of Christmas music all day- all types, new and really old stuff, including jazz, and some of the most fun bizarre stuff you may have never heard (like "Fruitcake" by the Superions), and occassional tiny audio clip snippets from animated specials like Rudolph... FUN stuff!  You can listen online if you want, link for their website is:
http://www.xpn.org/

At 10am EST, I temporarily switched over to WITF FM to hear the service from King's Chapel in Cambridge, England: A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.  Beautiful, listening to that right now.

At 2:40pm, I'm heading to Harrisburg with my saxophone to play in a Christmas Eve ensemble which I've participated in annually for the last several years.  Instead of 7pm as in other years, this time it begins at 4:00pm.

I expect to be back home around 7:00pm-ish, where I can sit back and relax (hopefully) and enjoy the magic of the evening.  I can feel it in the air like an electric field, greatly enhanced by the music and the lights.  Just after 12 midnight I'm going to go outside and listen to the steam whistle play carols, then finally go to bed around 1am.

Wanted to wish all my LJ friends a very Merry Christmas!  However you celebrate it, hope you all have a nice holiday!

It was towards the end of 3rd grade, at the age of eight and a half.  No one spoiled it for me... I just figured it out and finally boldly asked my parents sometime that spring.  I was disappointed to find that my hypothesis was correct, but it made sense.  After learning the truth, I still kept the secret and did not ruin it for anyone else.

I had an interesting dream last night.  I was in some large building, in an open hallway; don't know if it was at a con or pet show or other large gathering, but people had pets there, and this one guy (dark hair, dressed in dark clothes) had a pet cat on a leash and it was HUGE.  By huge, I mean large-dog-sized, like a Lab, Golden Retriever, or German Shepherd size.  Maybe even the size of a cougar.  Its fur was a solid maroon color, definitely different, and its ears were shaped differently than a house cat, not pointy but rounded and smaller and closer to the head, like other big cats often have.  I asked to pet it, and it was very affectionate and very well behaved (did not even pull on the leash).  Another interesting thing besides its large size was that this cat was only exotic in the sense that it was unusual and rare; it was not a tamed wild animal but a large domesticated pet not native to this country.  It was large enough to do some damage, yet, like I said, it was very well behaved.

This dream was very realistic; I thought it was really happening.  I remember thinking, "I want one of those!"  As far as I know, no such cat exists in reality.  I should try to draw it.

[No, I do not live in Ohio, and this post is not related to the recent sad and tragic release and killing of the big cats there. I was very sorry to hear about that. My report here covers an experience in Pennsylvania, back in mid-September.]

Back on Monday, September 12, I got a special treat at our local fair this year, which is within walking distance from my house. There was a big cat sanctuary from Florida that had traveled to the fair, offering a free show. Hey, I'm there, dude! Beautiful white tigers, Bengal tigers, and much to my delighted surprise, a lion and lioness too! The lioness was actually a liger. I sadly realized I had forgotten to bring my good Nikon camera, so I had to use my low res cell phone cam as a last resort. The show was wonderful, I loved it!! And not just because the cats did tricks, but I loved just seeing them up close, admiring them. The lioness was sitting on her pedestal closest to where we were sitting, and she turned and looked out into the audience, and her face and eyes were so beautiful! I could have just nuzzled her. Mia was her name, and she was the most active of the cats there. And the male lion, wow. His name was Handsome, and he certainly was. Striking facial profile, and heavy brown mane, all the way down his chest and belly. His butt looked somewhat bony to me, but I think that is how male lions look (maybe I'm used to seeing anthro lions which have heftier butts). Trainer did the head in the lion's mouth thing with him, which I thought was kind of a foolish risk to take. Good God, they have big teeth. Heard some roaring, and Mia showed her teeth too, and after she was done, gave the trainer a hard smack with her paw on her way back to her cage, to show him who was boss.

( Continue reading, with 21 pictures )

Hey everyone, I'm back online!!  And on 11-11-11, the last digital date in my lifetime.  The phone company repairman came today while I was at work, so he could not get in the house, but the problem was outside (on the pole, I think) and they must have fixed it, so now my internet connection is working again.  Yay!  Tomorrow I expect to do some LJ catch up by posting some pictoral stuff.  But, tonight, let's celebrate the restoration of my connection by dropping a pumpkin down a five flight stairwell!



Woohoo!  Such fun!  That made me laugh hard the first time I saw it.  But really, there is a much more constructive, furry way to get rid of your pumpkins this fall by putting them to good use.  I absolutely loved this video, check it out!!

Hey, just wanted to let everyone know my internet connection is offline and will be until further notice.  It's because of this stupid b.s. end-of-October heavy icy early snow we got last weekend- our telephone line is now dead which means my internet access is also non-existent.  Contacted phone company to let them know, and they said they'd get around to it by NEXT Friday, which is 11-11-11.  Holy crap.  So I won't be online at home till then.  They better credit me for this week and a half of downtime.  Posting this notice entry from my laptop via "wifi" at a local supermarket! :)

Was writing out checks this afternoon and whenever I went to write the date, I had to think about what I was doing because I kept subconsciously thinking, "November 5, 1955."  And I wasn't even around in the '50s!  I successfully wrote 2011 each time, but I really had to think about it.  Yeah, Back to the Future was one of my favorite movies. :)

[It's kind of crazy, the computer system we have set up in here at work has been going screwy the last several weeks, interrupting needed programs with a fair amount of downtime.  Sometimes it takes the internet down with it which is really bad, so not only you can't work (which is fine), but then you can't surf the web either, so it is a real waste.  Last week when LJ got hit with all those DDoS attacks, the company I work for was also hit, locking up email communication and internet access for a couple of days.  System is messed up again today, cannot boot up our CAD software.  But, I will make use of my down time in here today (Aug 3) to write this journal entry, to post later when I get time at home.]

Last weekend (July 30) I went to an outdoor furmeet, held on Saturday afternoon at Pinchot park.  It was a nice, relaxing time, and was free of cost.  I was unexpectedly delayed with family matters so didn't arrive until about 3pm, but the timing worked out fine.  Everyone went into the lake and I joined them, staying in the water for about an hour, I'm guessing.  Saturday was still hot but the humidity was down, so it felt nice to me.  The water actually felt warm.  We had all our stuff parked under a tree, so were able to remain in the shade almost the whole time (except when in the water).  Met Myst Xtreme and Acrila, and Torin fox.  Also in attendance were DevilPony (who organized the meet) and Kyraeus, Subwoofer Fuhr, Zero, and a few others, totaling about 10-12.  There were a couple of artists among the group doing some sketching there by the lake.

( Read more, with 2 pictures... )