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- Mood:
content
Looking back I can't believe it's been two years since I had a big party at my house, back then I had one almost every month, sometimes two. Two years ago was also the beginning of drama armagedon here where it seemed like everyone (VAF group mainly) was fighting, much of that stemmed from sex between friends, jealousy & sometimes overdrinking. Even since then things progressively got worse because people hold grudges, I admit I'm bad at that as well, if someone pisses me off I'm difficult to deal with. Anyway, going on, eventually the VAF group died out and invites to group activities where controlled by email & text. Moving up to present, it seems much of the drama from the past has been disolved but i'm thinking there's still bad feelings going around. Not many parties happen anymore, some of that cause of noise issues in apartments, but more so it seems everyone has seperated into just small gatherings of less then 5 usually. Being the lack of things going on I've been doing the same as everyone else. I can't say it's been a bad thing, NO drama whatsoever, most of my evenings are spent with a few nearby friends taking turns cooking some amazing meals and sitting by the fire chatting into the night on my deck or cuddling up to watch a movie. There's still fursuit bowling as a group, thankfully BCFurries provides several fun event options me and Spark sometimes take advantage of. Camping, trips on the dirtbikes to hotsprings, hiking, biking, Seattle tons of stuff, geeze there been SOoOo much going on but without the people I use to hang with. :/ We all do our own thing and I dunno why that is. I thought about getting back into hosting parties at my house where noise and space are not an issue, but without the social connection, hang out, or feeling of friendship with the people I use to hang with it just doesn't give me any ambition to provide a place for everyone to go.
So well, here we are. Just thought about writing out my thoughts. Maybe someday everyone will get back together as a group, but maybe this is just a learning curve for all of us including myself to take value in the real friends we have. Do to one another as you would want done to yourself, just common sense.
Waterslides today, mini furBBQ roast tonight, N+S Fursuit laser tag tomorrow, anyone care to go?
- Mood: mischievous
Said I would never use it...
Made account months ago just cause...
Tried to ignore it... but people kept adding and poking me... :P
Some of you already found my account. *pets* Here it is:
NitroShep @ Twitter
Still need to update about my Europe trip and Rainfurrest.
Currently have furry guests from California visiting keeping me busy.
WOW super thrilled that in a couple days i'm off to Europe for over 2 weeks to travel around and attend Eurofurence 16 with Spark.. I have never been outside North America before so this is bound to be a great adventure and an experience of a lifetime!. I'm really happy both me and Spark can speak and understand German for when needed.
Thanks to many great friends our trip has been made simple and far more exciting then ever expected, covering many miles and amazing places. Our trip starts Aug 28th in Frankfurt for a few days before renting a car and driving 5 hours to Magdeburg where Eurofurence is held.. 7 days at the con then back on the road into Holland and also Amsterdam to see many sights there, possibly also Belgium and public fursuiting.... I can't wait ^^ so much beer to sample everywhere. :P
Soooo curious who we will see at Eurofurence? We arrive on Aug 31st late afternoon, departing the hotel Sept 6th.
Will be out of Cell Phone contact for up to 18 days beginning Aug 28th, my phone will not work so I wont receive any messages until I return. Email will be the best form of contact... nitroshep(at)gmail(dot)com
I'm so stoked over Spark's new job!!! I have to write about this...
As some of you may know, Spark has been working lots and has been juggling 3 part time jobs. The third job acquired two weeks ago was difficult to get but looks like it will soon become a fun full time position with incredable benefits!
Spark got a job working Security at a Ranch/Country Club just south of the border in Washington State, which appears to have 98% of the members being from British Columbia. (and somewhat rich...) It looks very much like a small town where members and their guests go to party and enjoy luxury in nature.
Almost reminds me of "Dukes Of Hazzard" Spark gets to run his own shifts, do patrols in a Police style SUV with radar, siren and lights, sitting in the bushes waiting for someone to ticket. Sometimes chasing dogs, raccoons or people out of the horse fields or just sitting back in the guard shack allowing members access to the property.
The Ranch is hundreds of acres and some 1000 campsites & homes that requires a membership costing a few thousand $$$ annually. With the membership (including an RV pad) there is unlimited free access to horses, golfing, a pool, tennis, a party building, concerts, campsites and even free equipment rentals.
The best part about this job is him being allowed unlimited free access any of these activities while off duty.. so like grabbing any horse and go riding or grabbing some clubs and go golfing... He somehow pulled off allowing me access to all this with him! ..I got to do a patrol with him today and check it all out, everyone is so friendly out there and there is so much to do!
I finally got my restrictions taken off my Motorcycle learners licence and i'm now able to cross into the USA... I'm having alot of fun riding on the street, today crossing the border successfully on the bike. :)
My dog Axel had surgery today,
Something I was worried about for a few weeks, Axel went in for Surgery today to remove what was a lump behind his left shoulder that quickly got much worse last week.. For the past year it was just monitored for any changes and not being a problem.
Axel is my second German Shepherd Dog in my life and the first time having to take a dog to the vet for an operation, I get very close to my animals and just dropping him off at a Kennel is usually a feel bad experience.
Taking him to the Vet today was one of those days, apon dropping him off and placing him in a small pre-op kennel he screamed his friggen head off which tore at me just trying to leave.. He got upset enough after I left to "mess up" the kennel and himself that required Vet Staff to bath him before the operation.. He fought with them on getting the Anaesthesia after that.
Good news is he is alright and back with me this evening, although he seems in discomfort and is giving me a major guilt trip stare.. I do feel bad but it was nessesary.. The worry was it was cancer but apon removal it turrned out to be a badly infected cyst which is now gone.. I'm glad this day is over...
Some recent training on using a newly purchased Infrared Thermal Imaging Camera by my employer has allowed me to take the $9,500 Camera home with me for a few days to practise taking pictures and making reports, we will be using it to detect electrical hotspots... I thought it would be a good idea to try it on a Fursuit and did with Nitro this past weekend... I have not heard of anyone doing this before?
The camera automatically pinpoints the warmest spot and the additional software will allows you to measure other points and create reports.
The maximum readings in the pictures are on the surface of the Fursuit while not being active, basically what you would feel if you hugged a suiter standing in a lobby, the air gap tempurature under the suit would be a few degrees warmer.
Normally I cool the suit and head but thought it would be interesting to see where all the hotspots are without this option, most of the pictures showed the hottest point to be in the upper chest.
<The Image is expandable (30.6C = 87.1F)
If anyone ever wonders how hot it can be to fursuit this gives you a pretty good idea if your just standing still at room tempurature, hope some of ya find this interesting. :-)
Saturday a bunch of us teamed up to head Downtown (Vancouver, BC) into the heart of the celebration for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics... We really had no idea how this was going to turn out with the massive crowds of people from all over the world surrounding us... Our goal was to become Team Canada fans to get the crowd going... An almost perfectly executed plan with just barely enough spotters and radios to keep track of us... Little did we know how popular we would become, thousands of pictures and dozens of people surrounded us begging for a photo-op... our only problem that day, trying to get away from a non-stop surge of people wanting a pictures.
Happiness and a Smile shared with the world that day, the experience has left me with a sense of " WOW that's one of the coolest things I have done in fursuit yet! " ........ More Pictures of this event ---> CLICK HERE
{below} Vancouver 2010 Olympics countdown clock, now counting up the days of Olympics... {Right} Nitro In Crowd
- Mood:
bouncy
Further Confusion: Waz super awesome! Miss everyone and all the fun!
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Eurofurence: I'm excited to announce that Me & Spark will be attending Eurofurence this year!!! We are registered and paid from August 31st - September 6th.
Our time line in Germany is still unknown, very likely a few days before the con we will travel around Hannover, Berlin & Magdeburg... Plane tickets right now are far too expensive to rush into it... We can both speak German which is a plus. :)
Anthrocon: We are Westin Hotel booked for Anthrocon June 23-28th, at this point it's a full go. We had a amazing time last year and can't wait to return!
Rainfurrest: 2 hrs away - Definately! On Staff, must go ^^
All Fur Fun: If that Con happens we may go.
Hope to see you at one of these! =)
FC Hotel: - FC for me in all was awesome to say the least!. Me and Spark arrived to the Hotel early on the 20th and wandered the halls checking out all the rooms and layout.. Our first impression was overwhelming wondering if this 4-star hotel with it's delicate art and furniture could survive a furry con, two hours into my lobby stay I got asked to turn the volume down on my laptop.. ok... tickle me Spark is a little annoying :P ..I finally got my room around noon and found the Hotel staff to be very nice in general.. Overall the Hotel had alot of character and a ton of space to wander about, after a couple days I started to really like it.. Good choice guys! ...Only down side... good luck finding people...
Something I have not experienced at a furcon is the amount of public in the mix, alot of kids and adults totally enjoying the fact people were running around in animal costumes.. I can't remember how many times kids and adults interacted with us, hehe the kids even dragged us to their parents!. Outside the Hotel the public was friendly, I was able to wander in suit a couple streets down and not feel threatened.. Many resturant choices and fantastic night life!. To me FC felt like a totally new con.
Beware of the mini-bar fridge!. Don't play with the contents :P ..hehe yeah as we found out hidden sensors will automatically bill you and request room service to re-fill it.
FC Events: - In all everything was great, I found it cool there were 2 seperate dances at once plus a band playing in the lobby where you
could also dance.. The dances in general were "OK" the ballroom had great lighting but I found half the music too repeatative and boring, quite honestly the lobby band was best because they played music I could dance to in suit --The fursuit games-- were awesome! Best games I have been part of yet... and our team won!. I was disappointed there was no prize given out. -- Furry Night Live -- Well done! Not as many acts as previous years but that was to be expected will the drop in attendance.FC Highlight Activity: - Furry Limo Ride!
ME and Spark got in on a suiters Limo ride through the streets of San Jose thanks to JD & Jimmy asking us if we wanted to join.. We travelled around for 3 hours drinking Champagne first heading the the local mall with BBF as our guide for the 11 suiters... we got away with roaming the Mall for 15 mins before management decided to kick us out (or go to jail they said) Delayed security found us exiting back to the Limo but were very friendly to us... from there we were off to the park to climb the ropes, next to an outdoor strip mall where we got lured into a hair salon for pictures and sit in the barber chairs and also a shoe store :P ...after that the local Museum and Tech Museum before returning to the Hotel... Still looking for more pictures of this. :-)
Nitro & Spark Gold Panning: - Last minute before leaving for FC we decided to do something for the theme this year "Gold Rush".. we put on a hat and brought out gold pans filling with Canadian chocolate "loonies" which we handed out at random.. Unexpectedly with our little gold panning gig we collected all sorts of weird gay items (lol) but also cash.. I decided we shouldn't keep this money and donated it.
Nitro & Spark Gold Panning Money collected.... $24.21 Donated to the non-profit organization "Therapy Pets"
FC in all: - Our room was packed every evening which was fun, lotsa sillyness. :D ...Hotel better then we could of expected, yeah it was expensive but the atmosphere and things to do outside the con was absolutely outstanding!.. It reminded me alot of Anthrocon but with a more friendly public enviroment, definately a win and a return next year for us!. It was great meeting new friends and many we have not seen for a year or so (*hugs ya all*) I can't wait to see the BBF video ^^
- Mood: cheerful
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