09:35 pm - Goodbye...officially Yes, it's been a long time and to be honest, I initially had no intention or interest in returning in the 1st place.
I would say that many of you have probably been wondering where I've been, but I know that's not the case. I let my close friends know what was going on and where they could find me. The rest of you....well, I simply vanished and, as predicted, none of you sought me out.
My decision to sharply reduce my internet presence can largely be credited to a religious epiphany. It became clear to me that there were many people here who are a hindrance to my spiritual growth and needed to be cut out of my life. Likewise, there are many other forums that needed to be eliminated. I ultimately decided to stay on FA, but only to maintain a presence for some contacts I made. I will be purging my friends list there soon though. The only other fur forum I will remain active on will be the FFC (Furs For Christ) for obvious reasons. Most of my fursuiting now is at public events, fund raisers and special events for my church. I still support the local cons (Animazement and ConCarolinas...niether are furry), but no longer feel the need to attend or support any furcons (even if one sprang up in NC), nor do I feel compelled to support the fandom in any way from this point on. Time that I spent here, and elsewhere on the internet, is MUCH better spent in other ways.
As I was sending out notifications, StevieMaxwell informed me that he had nominated me for the F4 (fursuittourney). I'd forgotten that, at MFM, we'd talked about the F4, and while I found nothing more than a repugnant popularity contest, I also thought it was a bit of a travesty that Wally Wolf had never had a suit nominated. He was nice enough to nominate Nova Zax and myself. I told him in advance that I expected to lose badly in the 1st round, but against my better judgment, I would honor the nomination. My expectations were confirmed when I saw Nova (far more popular within the fandom than I) get rolled in the prelims by one of Raven's partials and, as expected, I lost badly (currently being outvoted 6:1).
So I guess...my closing thoughts: - I am, in no way, angry or bitter toward anyone here for anything.
- The fandom obvious doesn't need me, nor do I fit in, and with my life as it is now, I now certainly no longer need it.
- I will no longer compromise my values for mere associations as I did here on LJ. I will live my life as Howard Roark did in Fountainhead. Without compromise or regret and, most importantly, without concern for the approval or disapproval of others.
- While most of the extra time I used to waste here has been spent with my family, a good portion of it has been spent in the continuation of historical and political studies. Since I've stopped trying to pull everyone up to my level of knowledge and focused on only myself, I have achieved a level of clairity and understanding that is simply amazing. I can only say now that those of you who didn't get it before, never will. And I have absolutely zero interest in educating you anymore. You can all continue to swim in your own ignorance for all I care. Just know that I, and those other truly informed individuals ARE laughing at you. Just know that, socialism and fascism does nothing to help the poor. It only inhibits a persons ability to succeed. Those of us who have proven (and will continue to prove) our ability to succeed can overcome any oppressive force you can throw at us.
- I still may look to make an appearance on the Funday Pawpet Show, but it is simply because it looks like it'd be a lot of fun. At the moment, I'm not committed to it and still weighing the pros and cons. At least I'd be one guest not trying to pimp some new site or trying to promote myself in any way.
...and for those who happen to still be reading this, I will close out with something positive:
I made the promo video for ConCarolinas. They are going to break up this video for some 30/60 spots on TV as next years con draws near. I don't know if they will show it just in Charlotte or if they will air all across NC.
Current Mood: happy Current Music: Change for the Better -- Journey
06:54 pm - Today's moonbat Goes to Nicole Marie Loretta Leonard of Candler, NC who walked into a seemingly random funeral and apparently attempted to revive the deceased by dancing around and striking him with a wand.
02:26 pm - Letter from a law student... Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters,
We've stuck together since the late 1950s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know that we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and just will not ever agree on what's right. So let's just end it right now while we can do it on friendly terms. We can smile, shake hands, chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and each go our own way.
So here's a model separation agreement.
Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by land mass, each taking a portion. That's going to be the difficult part, but I'm sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy. Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate taste. We don't like redistributive taxes so you can have those. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. And since you hate guns and you hate war, we'll take the firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. But you are going to be responsible for finding a biodiesel vehicle big enough to haul them around.
We'll keep the capitalism, the greedy corporations, the pharmaceutical companies; we will keep Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have the homeless, the homeboys, the hippies and illegal aliens. We will keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, the greedy CEOS and all of the rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and we'll let you have NBC and Hollywood.
You can be nice to Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer anybody that threatens us. You can have the peaceniks and the war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we will provide them with security. You won't have to worry about it. We will keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley Maclaine. You can also have the UN, but we will no longer pay the bill.
We will keep the SUVs, the pickup trucks and the oversize luxury cars. You can have the compacts, the subcompacts and every Subaru station wagon you can find. You can give everybody healthcare, if you can find any practicing doctors. We will continue to believe that healthcare is a privilege and not a right. We will keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the national anthem, and I am sure you will be happy to substitute in their place "Imagine." I'd like to teach the world to sing "Kumbaya" or "We are the world." We will practice trickle-down economics and you can give trickle-up poverty your best shot. And since it so offends you, we will keep our history, our name and our flag.
Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots. And if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the friendly spirit of parting, I'll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in about 15 years.
Sincerely,
John J Wall
Law student and an American
P.S. You can also have Barbara Streisand and Jane Fonda Current Mood: cynical
11:04 pm - Some bad news... I have to admit, that this is very hard for me to post. I guess I just don't like exposing my weaknesses...
I honestly don't know how much I have talked about this outside of team_fatty so....to review.
I have a lifelong history of being overweight. When I was fired by Crappy Cable and hired on my current job (2.5 years ago) I had crept up to 330-340 lbs. It was at that point that I said, "enough" and started losing weight. I got down to 290 at one point last year, but during Tina's pregnancy I went back up to around 310. While that doesn't seem bad considering I'm at a net -30 it gets worse....
I am checking in with my doctor every 6 months. In the period between the last visit and yesterday, my A1C shot up from 6.1 to 8.5. Even at my worst over 2 years ago, I was only at 7.0 and with the weight loss I edged down below the target 6.5. For the past 2 days, I have been seriously depressed over this. After nearly 5 years of fighting to avoid this, it has now happened and I have lost the war. Even though the doctor, I think, being nice and really avoiding the word, the fact is, I am now diabetic. Beyond my frustration, I have plenty of questions, primarily "Why would my sugars jump so radically when my weight isn't as bad as it was 2 years ago?". Obviously, I have been placed on medication to bring my numbers back in line immediately and my doctor seems hopeful that I can bring things back in line if I can get back to eating right, but I have a feeling that, for me, things will truly never be the same again. I never wanted to go down this road, but I am there now and I honestly don't see how I can turn it around. Current Mood: depressed
This individual clearly doesn't get it. It is not the toy that instills misplaced priorities in our youth, it is the parents. Children watch their parents max out credit cards trying to live above their means attempting to "keep up with the Joneses". Never mind all the soccer moms out there that push their kids into beauty pageants and other competitive settings. I saw this 1st hand as a chess tournament director. Parents and coaches shouting down kids for losing games and, in the most extreme cases, teaching them that winning at any cost (even cheating) is, not only perfectly alright, but the norm in our society.
Children will pretend and fantasize with or without these toys. It's all part of growing up. Girls will play dress up and pretend to be princesses and boys will play war. What is important is that parents reinforce proper values in their kids not only verbally, but also (and most importantly) through their actions. Current Mood: cynical
This time though, it fell on top of 5-6" of water from the heavy rains yesterday that froze overnight. More typical of a NC snow than the other storms we've had (which were pure snow). Ice covered with snow or vice versa. I'm tempted to go out the I-95 and film people trying to drive on the ice at 70+ MPH, LOL. Current Mood: cynical
07:39 pm - Don't you just love it... Why is it lately, all of my valid counterpoints have been met with nothing but "your wrong". Is it that the Obamamaniacs have nothing to come back with? I feel like all my conversations now are descending to "You're stupid!", "No! You're stupid!"
...and as an added bonus, this obtuse individual has taken exception to my use of the euphemism BOBO.
Looks like I've found both today's troll and moonbat, LOL. lemmozine...you are it!
PS: I have to give props to jeran on that thread for stepping up and filling the void left by that troll. I'm typing up a rebuttal now.... Current Mood: disappointed
03:21 pm - Interesting... Funny thing...last night I actually heard a local reporter refer to the "stimulus" plan as "wealth redistribution". Interesting how, now that the media got their guy into the White House, they now seem to, now, have no problem calling it the way it is. Current Mood: curious
05:30 pm - Government 101 An excellent brief on types of government. I just hope my more liberal readers can overcome their short (American Idol) attention spans and actually learn something.
Question: Is it legal to pass an emergency vehicle (with flashing lights and siren) on a multiple lane road provided that vehicle is moving below the posted speed limit?
12:00 am - 10 Ten! pigjones helped me fill out the list. I came up with most of these last night while waiting for the birth, but didn't have a pen handy. I'm sure there's one or two I can't remember.
Top 10 things that shouldn't be said during a delivery:
10. *after a contraction*: That's for giving me that apple! 9. Anything from the Monty Python “Giving Birth skit” (Meaning of Life) 8. OWWWWWW! Paper cut! 7. There's the head....and another....and another.... 6. OH! I see the head...hold on let me get a picture! 5. Hey! I'm going to get something to eat...you want something? 4. So, what else are you hiding in there? 3. It's a boy!....errr, and a girl!? 2. Who knew 'whack-a-mole' was such a loud game.
...and the #1 thing that shouldn't be said during a delivery. You know...it's times like this I'm glad I'm a man.
EDIT: Dangit...sure enough, here's one I just remembered:
Can we hurry this along, the canes are playing in an hour! Current Mood: silly
It looks like many states are doing this, but it's too little, too late. The 10th amendment was pretty much nullified by The War of Northern Aggression and these resolutions are only going to result in BOBO and the Imperial Federal Government opening up a big ol can of whoop-ass on the rebelling states. I don't think it will come to a 2nd succession and consequential re-invasion by the US, but you never know.
Much like Libertarianism, it is the good and morally correct fight, but this Republic is already doomed to fall into Communism and eventually Totalitarianism. Our future is already written in the pages of history.....no one is bothering to read. Current Mood: cynical
“Ok just letting everybody know that we're at the hospital and things are progressing fairly well and likely(?) I have another announcement later on this morning.”
Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.
And if you want, five things that you associate with me. Feel free to say the same things, but I'll elaborate each subject only once!
1. Poker!! I've been slack on my poker updates lately, but basically, I've been floating between 100 and 150 on Pokerstars over the past several months. I can't seem to make any real progress, but at the same time, I'm not going broke. Last nights session was particularly brutal and I'll have to post about it later.
Aside from my small stakes success online, I have also made the final table in both of the MFM tournaments I've participated in as well as 2 of the 3 unofficial Anthrocon '07 tournaments (taking 2 bad beats in the Friday night session and finishing 4-5 spots away from the final table...the player that eliminated me eventually won, but played very poorly in the process and earned the nickname "Jamie Gold").
Many of the people I knew and played chess with eventually moved into poker to some level. A few have gone as far as to make a living doing it, but most are just recreational players (as I am).
2. On-line comics Well....former on-line comic artist, but funny this should be mentioned now. I have not yet posted this, but I have a few unpublished comics tucked away. The reason they remained unpublished, to this point, was because I didn't believe I had enough of an audience to make completing a few chess themed comics worthwhile. It seems that I might have found an unexpected opportunity to, not only gain an audience for those, but to do so in an official publication (even though I wouldn't be paid for it, it would be my 1st true professional credential). I hope to submit a draft to the organization in time for the next publication.
3. Family (like bringing your family to the con with you) After the last MFM, I joked around about Gabriel actually being more popular in the fandom than me. I'm lucky that I married someone who doesn't have anywhere near the same interest in the fandom that I have, but tolerates my participation.
I'm sorry to report that I'm not going to be able to make any furcons in 2009. I really need to get serious about putting myself in a position where I can do things like taking trips to cons without stretching myself thin in the process. No one ever gained success without personal sacrifice, so I am sacrificing short term self-gratification for long-term success.
4. Lions Of course, but unlike most people in the fandom, my feeling of association with the big cats started at a very, VERY, young age. I've posted these stories before, but it started with recurring dreams of being chased by a lion. It could happen at any time in any dream. As a teenager, I learned to lucid dream and eventually confronted the lion. He turned out to be friendly and from that point on, he would appear as a familiar instead of an enemy.
When I joined the fandom, but fursona was pretty much predetermined. I did decide to change to a white lion just because I liked the way they looked. Since creating Leo, the lion no longer appears in my dreams. Instead, I take on the various forms directly. So far I have managed 4 forms...human, fursuit, anthro and cartoon. The only form that I have not taken yet (that I can think of) is non-anthro.
5. Fursuits (I see you so often in suit, I can't remember what you look like!) I'll have to upload some pictures when I'm back on the other computer. This one is the only one I seem to have handy and it's kinda old...
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