Below are the most recent 14 friends' journal entries.

Sunday, December 27th, 2009
kattspaw	9:56a	The devils in the dreams I had an odd dream last night. I dreamt that I was a black, but no ordinary blacksmith, I made keys. Yes I said keys, this was clearly evident from the thousands upon thousands of keys that hung from the ceiling of my smithy on varies lengths of sparkly string. There I was, standing in front of my anvil, dressed in nothing but a leather smith’s apron, listening the tinkling sounds of the keys as the wind blew thru them. When all of a sudden the door slams open and in walks this really tall and stout daemon, reeking of decay, covered in dark leathery skin with lurid flames dancing all over its body and MMXII branded into its forehead. The daemon says to me in a nasally lisping effeminate voice “Ah need theur ta mek uz six 'undred 'n sixty six keys by Decemba 21, 2012. apiece key 'as ta be totally different wi' neya twoa keys t' sem.” All I do is look at the daemon and say “take a number” while pointing to one of the number dispensers like they use at the local DMV and yell “NEXT!” at the top of my lungs. And that’s where I wake up at…. Yet once again I’m left wondering about the inner workings of my brain and feeling the artistic urge to make a key or two to the gates of hell….. Umm, yeah…. That’s pretty much it. Current Mood: artistic Current Music: The Darkness On the Edge of Town pod cast (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 26th, 2009
tkat	8:31p	Arts ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) Current Mood: loved (3 Comments |Comment on this)
moondog4rnr	12:58a	"I have always wondered, if the virgin mary had given birth to a stillborn jesus, would we get to celebrate easter this sunday?" There. I still use this thing. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 25th, 2009
tibble_cgress	3:55p	MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) Current Mood: calm Current Music: Have yourself A Merry Little Christmas (7 Comments |Comment on this)
kattspaw	3:13a	Happy Holidaze... MERRY CHRISTMAS Current Mood: awake (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
elfasi	9:28p	2000-2010 in review Well, it's been a fun decade. My main regrets coming out of it are: Ending the decade with no boyfriend and none in sight Too long spent figuring out what I need compared to what I want, as regards relationships and surroundings Wasting too many years of my adult life without a dog Not feeling able to come out as gay to my parents Too many years wasted in a shitty job, unable to break into the IT sector Moved out from parents in my late 20s, much too late, thanks to above Not travelling enough Never flying Concorde Notable events/accomplishments/things: Graduated university with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science September 11th 2001 Went to Palma, Mallorca Went to Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands Went to Jamaica for a wedding that never occurred Swam with dolphins Watched America go down the toilet Worked at Blockbuster Video as a part time minimum wage grunt for 4 years after graduating Moved out from parents, into house with then b/f Bought a Saab together with then b/f Started my first ever IT job together with then b/f Secured job at second IT place under my own steam and merits Visited Disneyworld in Florida, did all the parks, and Universal, SeaWorld, NASA Petted a tiger and a lion, in the flesh, actually touching them censored censored with an censored censored censored censored censored censored Visited Australia, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Jamaica, Malaysia for the very first time Drove to Scotland and back for the first and only time, after missing my flight there Bought my own home Didn't have a single car accident Attended 'Millennium' fireworks in London from Dec 31st 1999 to Jan 1st 2000. Attended my first ever furry convention at Eurofurence, Germany Attended Australia's very first furry convention in Melbourne. Broke up with my boyfriend after being together 8 years, since the 90s Read a ton of great books Saw a ton of good films Lost both of my surviving grandparents Decided to become a published author Gained two nephews and one niece Joined livejournal in 2003 Lost 2 of my 3 cats from childhood Started wearing glasses to correct an astigmatism in one eye Lost too much hair Became a hopeless Apple Mac fan and got rid of all my non-Macs I may add to this list when I remember more. It's been an interesting 10 years, but I think the next 10 are about to get a lot more interesting. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
elfasi	4:17p	2009 in review Visit Australia See my brother, his wife and new daughter in Australia Dye hair blonde more than once Decide whether or not to spend the rest of my lie with Shy-Cry-Wolf Catch an acute prostate infection Enable my Dad to find out he needed life saving heart surgery Come out to my parent(s) Begin extensive dental treatment to fix years of neglect Finish all dental work needed Overcome dental phobia Lose weight(didn't gain weight) Earn bonus at work Finish my part in 2 year long project at work Finish editing videos and photos from Australia Get a mortgage Buy house Do a ton of essential DIY on said house Finish all the niggly bits of DIY that drag on forever Buy double bed Drive through France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany Attend Eurofurence 15 Get a dog(Going to happen around Jan 1st) Attend best friend's wedding in Washington DC Visit New York City Visit 9 USA states in 12 days Have a buffalo burger Get transferred to a new team at work doing exclusively non-Windows work Become much more effective at writing, and generally improve (This will never be finished, but is always ongoing, and I made some great progress) Become a published author Pass a handy qualification at work, really good for the CV Current Mood: happy (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
elfasi	8:32p	Minnesota to DC to Pennsylvania Recap: I was in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and just heading out on on my flight back to DC via WI. Tuesday. The Milwaukee Wisconsin layover was a few hours, so I can sort of say I've been there, wish I had baggage space for all the cheese. A strange thing witnessed on the flight, a lady carrying on a cat wrapped up in a towel; she said he was physically disabled and could not move unaided. Finally it was back to DC 5pm for one leg in what was to be a very long day (up at 8am). Reagan airport is right in the middle of Washington DC, it turns out this is a very bad place to try and reach at 5pm on a Tuesday. At the advice of my friend to be wed, I hopped on the metro and rode all the way to the very end of one of the lines. There I was picked up and a group of wedding guests was immediately ferried to a tuxedo hire shop. We'd emailed in all our measurements, but this was the first and last chance to make sure they all actually fitted. Things were rather last minute due to my flight getting in a bit late. Some tweaks were needed; they just ordered in different size garments according to what we said we needed, to be picked up later in the week. I had to be run back to the metro station again, while also repacking my suitcase. My weekend clothes had run out and I had to swap out fresh ones from my main suitcase, which had thoughtfully been brought along. It's quite hard to repack two suitcases in the back of a cramped car, pitch dark, speeding through traffic. So I got back onto the metro and this time headed for the Washington DC union train station. We thought I had plenty of time for the train I was due to catch, but because of some cancelled metro trains I got there with 2 minutes to spare. Pre-booked tickets, no possibility of catching another; I had to find a kiosk and print them out from my internet booking too. Somehow against all the odds, I made my train at 9pm, this was to be a trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was Tuesday night, 5 days after arriving, I'd already checked off 6 states visited. This leg was to visit irchance, a friend I've known through IRC a few years now and is as passionate about the Lion King as me (well, nearly as much). Now I've never travelled on USA trains before, save the DC metro, which is much like any mass transit underground system for a city: it worked well enough. UK trains are much loved and much reviled, travelling to what seems like everywhere, late, slow, costing the earth. We love them (or take them for granted) because they take us nearly everywhere, we hate them for everything else. They can be cramped, crowded, dirty, but okay I guess. I don't use them much because the car tends to be cheaper. USA trains, as a friend warned me, it was like I'd accidentally wandered into first class. I was in coach class, cattle class, the cheapest of the cheap. The seats were huge, wide, tons of legroom, tons of space, the general body of USA trains seems bigger, even the single deckers that I was on. The cost was excellent, the service and staff second to none; even the food wasn't too expensive. I had to sample their food because I'd literally not had any time to eat before then. We got to my destination in just a couple of hours, made me wonder why anyone would fly it as I'd seen in the leg out of DC the previous week. This is where I got to witness the impressive architecture and open space of 30th street station in Philadelphia. As a counterpoint to the spectacle, the station seemed filled with crazy people I kept having to rush past without stopping, it wasn't even that late (11pm). This is where I caught the much reviled Septa local train to travel to irchance's part of town. Despite giza's warnings, it was okay I guess, though the door system was weird, and I didn't appreciate a guy shouting the stops in my face in a very loud voice for the entire journey (my stop was at the end of a very long line). Put that info on an LED display, damn. Finally I met my friend, whom I will call Hadley! It was about 1am by the time we got to his apartment, bearing in mind I got up at 8am. Again I was zombified and we pretty much crashed out straight away. The next day was the Wednesday, and we headed out to enjoy a very fine breakfast at Chik-fil-a, my very first visit. A strange place by my standards, more than 50% of the staff were white and middle aged. I state this purely as an observation; where I come from the reverse is nearly always true. At the risk of putting my foot in my mouth, this feels like a better state of affairs, in so far as over 50% of menial work being performed by the ethnic majority (I consider fast food work to be menial work). It's logical, right? Anyway, leaving that minefield behind... Hadley is a lovely guy, very sweet, very smart, into a bunch of deviant things I am, and appreciates the more insane side of humour also. Cute also, cute accent, and more obviously gay than me. Not a bad thing. Again I was to suffer the random generosity of internet strangers. We had to hit the road; he was driving us to another friend's house in Long Island, New York state. Not a route for the faint hearted, and we left reasonably late to avoid traffic hell. I paid my way of course, as I've done for all of my trip. It was almost exactly 10pm when we got there, crossing another two states off my list, New Jersey and New York. Current Mood: happy Current Music: Drive Away - Matthew Ebel (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 20th, 2009
tkat	12:23p	Umami ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
kattspaw	1:50a	Phallic Leaf Rod Polymer clay leaves, Metallic acrylic paint on a wooden core. Each leaf was made individually of polymer clay in varying thickness and shape and then randomly overlaid each other on a solid oak core. It measures 7 3/8” long x 1 3/8” diameter. Current Mood: artistic Current Music: Coast to Coast AM - Radio (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 17th, 2009
tkat	5:45p	Rings of the Earth ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
tkat	3:17p	Windows v. Apple ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) (20 Comments |Comment on this)
elfasi	12:32a	Sofawolf HQ Visit and goodbye to Tempo To recap from last time, I just arrived back in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with tempo321, a bit over 2 days after I left it. Monday. You may or may not have heard of Sofawolf; they're a furry publishing house, putting out books, anthologies of stories and art and comics, calendars, greetings cards, t-shirts. You'll find their stuff at most furry conventions; Kyell Gold's books are all published by them. I got to know them through Tempo, upon whom their sights they have firmly fixed upon. They're publishing one of his stories I helped edit, in their next Heat magazine, a furry anthology. I hope to submit a story of my own to them next year. So having got to know them online a bit, it was my privilege getting to visit them in person; their home. Tempo, lucky bugger, had already met them all and spent the entirety of MFF with them, just the weekend before I came to the USA. I originally wanted to spend more time with the Sofawolf guys, but my schedule got compressed from both ends and this weekend was all that was left. We sure packed it in though. Tempo started editing his Heat submission on site, conferring with the Heat editors directly; I felt in the company of giants. We were going to try and watch Bolt together, but the writing came first, as it should. Despite the huge LCD screen and beautiful blu-ray player in a beautiful basement with a beautiful sound system. I persuaded him to watch a few scenes and some extras in the end; he was wowed. I would be remiss if I did not mention the sofa wolves themselves, two stunningly gorgeous and sweet husky dogs. This trip has been full of privileges, meeting this pair was among them. I've never really been around huskies; they were so beautiful, so well behaved, so sweet and friendly. The eldest curling up on the sofa was the inspiration of the entire name of the company. One other fun thing I got to see while there, was the nerve centre, the stock room for the company and all its products. It was so hard to resist just buying everything, but my baggage and my wallet couldn't take it. I bought another Kyell Gold novel in the end, some Christmas cards, a few other things. Some very generous freebies were to be had too. Now originally, Tempo, conscientious student that he is, was going to drive back the same night, as he had lectures the next day (Tuesday). We nearly convinced him to bunk off, but his conscience won out. We slept down in the basement, he decided to head out at 5am and drive 6 hrs back to college. I don't mind saying that waking up later to find him gone, was probably the saddest moment of my entire trip. I wish I'd spent more time with the guy. A husky alarm clock eventually got me up (Kyell Gold can attest to the fun of this), and then it was off to the airport. My Sofawolf buddy very kindly ran me to the airport first thing, fortunately it wasn't far. This time an 11am flight back to Washington DC via Wisconsin. I was sad to be going, again, but I learned some valuable things. The kindness of strangers (or people you've only known online) knows no bounds. I have to write more. I can do a whole lot better if I try, and I want to. I'm not a very good writer yet, but I'm confident I can be if I work at it. I adore the creativity and energy of it, and while I daren't hope for a career as a professional writer, I like to think it's in the realms of possibility. At the least, I intend to become published, and not just furry smut. Current Mood: tired Current Music: Tennessee Never Cried - Matthew Ebel (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 14th, 2009
booga1	3:25p	Gone Yes, that woman-beating, inconsiderate, drugged-up, jerk of a neighbor finally left. Yay!!!!!! Current Mood: relieved (7 Comments |Comment on this)