I've been meaning to write an actual post for a loooong time and still am. But for now, this sums up what I've been up to lately:

Hadesta, the undead warlock

...and this is werellama's character:
Eriuwolf

Yes, yes, for the Horde. ;)

EDIT: We no longer play those characters! If you're curious where we play now, ask!

In a fit of spring fever, I signed up for volunteering at Wehr Nature Center for their Maple Sugar Days. However, I'm realizing now that I might get bored with just the normal people there. Does anyone want to volunteer with me?

Volunteer training is tomorrow (Saturday) at 9:30am with a potluck brunch at 11am. The event is then March 24th and 25th, and my scheduled hours are for the afternoon of the 25th. I'll be leading hikes through the woods, but there will be indoor activities, as well.

If you're interested, please email or IM me at mistletoe_snowhare@yahoo.com as soon as you can.

Haha, I took an online quiz while at work. It's FUN! You know you want to take it, too.

( OHNOanimage )

(I made this post for my use, to keep track of the art exchange communities.)

100x100xchnge
caninexchange
conbadges
equinexchange
eroticartxchnge
felineexchange
furartxchange2
furoticxchange
furry_artcard
hybridxchange
lapinexchange
marsupialxchang
mlpartexchange
mythicexchange2
paleo_exchange
sffartxchange
ungulatexchange
wildcatxchange
wolfxchange

I suppose writing a post about what's been going on with me would make catching up with people at Midwest Furfest easier, or just be an FYI for those who won't be there.

( Catching up on current projects, my health and stuff: )

MFF is my "home con" so it's always been like a family reunion to me, complete with drama. Two years ago, I even had my mom attend for a day. I've been to every MFF, and they keep getting better. Last year was fun and drama-free (for me anyway), and I hope that trend continues. However, it is a bit of a bummer that tremaine will have to leave on Sunday to go to work. :P

I've also always been involved with putting the con on. First, I was head of a programming track, then I helped Dali with directing gophers (volunteers). For the last two years, I haven't been on staff, but I still gophered and helped with panels. This year, I'm on more panels than ever. The following is what Dali and/or I are slated to be in this year:
"Folktails" - Friday @ 6:00PM
"Playful Awakenings" - Friday @ 7:00PM
"Therianthropy" - Friday @ 8:00PM
"Candidly Canid" - Saturday @ NOON
"Hoof and Horn Herd" - Saturday @ 4:00PM
The Midnight Howl (in the parking lot)
"Fursuit Construction 2: Building Heads" - Sunday @ 10:00AM
"Mother Earth" - Sunday @ 3:00PM

Dali and I will also be "carnies" to run free game-booths for the "county fair" theme of the con. So come and try your luck with us! :) We wanted to do an act for the variety show, but we couldn't think of anything to top the awesome act we did at MFM. We'll be busy enough; there's so much to do and see at this con!

Safe travels to everyone!

Thanks to all who helped me pick a movie last week. You guys rock! tremaine and I went to see "Batman Begins 2"... I mean, "The Prestige." :) (They have the same director, both star Christian Bale, and have a similar "feel.") I'm sure I'll eventually see all the movies that I listed, sooner or later. The Prestige was awesome, and not only because I love the Victorian-age and Hugh Jackman. It had one of the best plot-twists that I've seen for awhile, even better than any of Shyamalan's twists. So go see it before someone spoils it for you!

Speaking of spoilers, I finished reading the latest Harry Potter book over the weekend. It had already been spoiled for me a while ago by T-Shirt Hell. They made a shirt design wth the sole purpose of giving away the ending of the 6th HP book, and of course I saw it because I always check out their latest additions. As much as I'd like to buy one or two of their shirts, I won't, just on the principle that they spoiled the book. One would think that the sheer offensiveness of many of their shirts would be enough of a reason to not buy from them, but het, that's their niche. Oh well, how it all happened in the book was still a surprise to me.

tremaine has been in Montreal for work all week. (I've had a fabulous week with werellama in the meantime.) He's coming home today, and he suggested that we catch a movie tonight. Looking at the paper, I see that there are several that I'd like see; but as always, I can't decide. Help?

Poll #854555 So Many Movies
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Of the following options, which movie should we see tonight?

After a couple years of not drawing, I actually had some recent art to upload, due to my participation in equinexchange and lapinexchange. I highly recommend to any artists out there to try them out. I wish I could sign up for the August exchange, but I have last-minute fursuit stuff to do for MFM.

Yes, we got to see Mythbusters today! I called the Pabst Theater box office yesterday, and the nice lady there said that not seeing the tickets in the mail was a common occurrence. We were able to get the tickets at the Will Call window, as I hoped. Before and after the show, Rick, Randy and Rachel were fun to be around, as usual. With them, I can totally be myself, good off, and dance like no one is watching. My brother Tom is developing a sense of humor, too.

It hasn't been very long since the last time that I was at the Pabst, but I can't remember what show it was for. Something that I noticed this time was the vintage posters hanging all over the lobby walls. They were prints from turn-of-the-19th-century to 1920's, surely nods to the theater's historic past. I really dig that era of art; I wanted to take some home with me. We took our narrow seats near the middle of the 2nd floor.

The show was not quite what I expected, and I had the feeling that much of the audience felt the same way. I knew that they were not going to bust-a-myth onstage, but I thought they'd do a demonstration or live recreation of one of their smaller-scale experiments, since not all of them involve explosions or launching stuff. However, the live show was mostly Adam and Jamie being interviewed, first by a local morning radio show hostess, then by audience members, mostly kids.

This still proved to be interesting and entertaining. We got to see how comfortable Adam is with being a ham onstage, and how easily Jamie rambles on or gets embarrassed by Adam and turns redder than his already rosy complexion. Many of the questions dealt with their history and backgrounds. Before they started doing the TV show, they had the ever-so-enviable careers of doing special effects for movies, such as pyrotechnics for the Matrix movies and miniature set models for the latest Star Wars episodes. Yet they feel like "Mythbusters" is even more rewarding than the movies, although they sometimes miss the greater amounts of time and money they had for completing movie projects.

The non-interview portions of the show were a blooper reel and finding the quickest way to chill beer, which was very appropriate for our "Brewtown" audience volunteers. The blooper reel was broadcasted from Adam's Apple laptop, which at first didn't want to play nice with the projector, so during the technical difficulties we got to see his C3-PO desktop image. The bloopers were clips of Adam dancing or getting hurt and the cast goofing off and joking with sexual innuendo ("Too hot for TV!") It would have been nice to get their autographs, but they didn't have that available. I hope Adam and Jamie enjoyed their stay in Milwaukee.

We then went to dinner at La Iguana Loca, our neighborhood's Mexican restaurant. We were just there for Cinco de Mayo, but of course it was much less crowded this time. We met up with jimcyl and daveqat there, and it was great to see these smart funny guys for the first time in too long. (We'll get to see them again next weekend already, yay!) Our conversation proved yet again to me that cat owners always have stories to share that demonstrate the individualities and similarities of cats.

As we chatted, we sometimes alluded to the relationship that Rachel and I have, as we normally do with friends. Then I remembered that my brother was there (I'm still not used to him almost looking like an adult) and that I'm not really out to my family about being poly and bi. But then I thought that Tom, Mom and probably Dad already have a good idea about this, even though it hasn't been forthrightly discussed. My family has shown that they not only accept Rachel, but prefer her to my long-time strictly-plutonic friend Athena. They'll also be getting more exposure to our situation when Randy, Rachel, and I go to Minnesota next month for my aunt and uncle's 45th anniversary party. I was concerned about being outed before my wedding, which I saw as having potential for drama, and I wanted to minimize that. I'm not worried anymore. Afterall, my parents are fairly liberal. And especially now that Tom is starting to experience non-familial love for himself, he should be understanding, I would hope.

This Saturday, tremaine, werellama, Rick, and my brother Tom are supposed to go see a live Mythbusters show at the Pabst Theater, and I still don't have the tickets. I ordered them 3 months ago, and I don't remember them ever coming in the mail. Maybe they did, and I have since forgot or lost them. I am absent-minded like that. I hope that I can get this straightened out with the box office tomorrow; maybe they can leave them at Will Call. The receipt said they're "guaranteed to arrive at least 48 hours prior to your event" so that's why I figured I could wait until the 48-hour mark. :-/

I started going onto Second Life a couple weeks ago. Like when I finally gave in and read the Harry Potter books, I did it because werellama highly recommended it, not because it's "the thing to do." She's been on as "Daliwolf" for well over a month.

SL is obviously a graphics-intensive program. My computer can handle it now that I have a decent video card from Rachel, but it's still slower than I'd like. It's inspired me to finally give Randy the greenlight to let him upgrade my computer in the coming months.

Dali's been trying out some houses on her property, and she put together one that is nice and cozy for us. Behind the house is tremaine's house. (Understandably, he's avoiding SL for now because he has a lot of drawing he wants to do.) On one side of Dali's lot, cbrenton has his house; and on the other side live a couple who will have their wedding on their property in a few weeks, with Dali officiating it. unigal has a castle-like house across the Mainland; Dali and I managed to take a hovercar all the way there and crash into her front door with it.

I swear, it's so much like playing with dolls or (in the case of the sexually insecure) "action figures." There are plenty of characters there that look like Barbies, Kens, G.I.Joes, etc., our next-door neighbors included; but they're so cool that it doesn't matter what they look like.

( Click for two SFW pictures and my ramblings. )

Okay, I realize that most of you who enjoy Girl Scout cookies already have your own hook-ups; yes, you may already have connections to a supplier-scout. However, for the few that don't, please let me know, and I'll pass your order along to my goddaughter. No payment is needed right now, but I'll need your cash ($3.50 per box) on delivery. Please let me know by Saturday. You'd be supporting a great organization! (I should know; I was in Scouts during all of my school years. :)

Five years ago today, Randy and I started dating each other.

Four years ago today, I moved out of my folks' house and moved in with Rachel.

Both were the beginnings of fortunate paths.

(That's all I have time to write for now, since I’m at work.)

The pastor said this at our wedding reception; I think it would be good for today, too:

A Prayer
~ By Robert Louis Stevenson ~

Lord, behold our family here assembled.
We thank you for this place in which we dwell,
for the love that unites us,
for the peace accorded us this day,
for the hope with which we expect the morrow,
for the health, the work, the food,
and the bright skies that make our lives delightful;
for our friends in all parts of the earth.
Amen


Whatever you're doing, wherever you're going, have a ( Happy Thanksgiving! )