sol 3

the gods' leftover snow falls stubbornly
from tumultuous sky
frosting sour mud left lingering in gutters
studding my black coat in little white balls and
standing here at this bus stop in the cold
i am an alien observer of this society
lost and confused as human organisms
ebb and flow in mysterious tides...
i may look like one of you but
i am not one of you and
i never have been or
(so it seems) never will be.

well, then.

Myst-inspired poetry

I've been re-playing Myst recently (the realtime 3D version, realMYST, from 2000, to be exact). There is nothing more calming, to me, than entering these worlds, these fantastical places, and losing myself in them for a time. I am moving on to Riven soon, then Exile, then Revelation...

These works inspire me. I've been making a bit of fanart, using screenshots from the game. I've been writing fanfiction as well. And a bit of poetry, which I'd like to share:

----

MYST

water over a broken boat
i am on a dock
gull sound, but no humanity.
My head, my body, feels manipulated,
i see blue skies
as if squeezed into a small, small space
and drawn out again
into the salty air.
The wood beneath me is soft with age.
where am i?
Metal mountain, marble library. Secrets.
Birds chirp in high pine branches.
It is a small island.
It is not mine.
it was the book...

----

Stoneship

rain lashes against my shivering form

i did not ask for this

lighting chars the stormy sky in great

white streaks

burning clouds to purple ash

to be scattered on hurricane winds.

this world has drowned...

the rock is sharp and inhospitable.

Only down below the decks and stones

through dripping tunnels newly drained

can I find some small comfort and warmth

in someone else's bed.

i am alone

in glass-walled, underwater chambers

I observe sea creatures, sinuous, strange,

that I know I could not find anywhere on Earth

and it finally

sinks in

i am very far from home

----

Mechanical

the sea engulfs this place

i dare not fall in

this metal fortress does not belong

to this desolate

salt

desert

yet still it stands, rusting, creaking,

impenetrable by all

but a single person walking, carefully,

along a catwalk stretched out

over deep, unsounded waters.

what were they afraid of?

I do not trust the men

who saw fit to build their throne rooms here,

fill them with weapons and gold

and stare out over the sea

like conquering kings.

i will not stay long

The fortress spins along its aged track

great, rusted gears grinding against

each other, at my request.

I gather only what I need

and go.

----

Selenetic

white mists swathe a barren landscape

carved out by gentle waters, long ago.

i can barely see

someone has built stairways, here and there

to smooth out rough terrain

and show which way to go.

the sky changes color: brilliant orange, pink,

purple, blue; each hour something new,

absorbed into the mists and coloring the age.

When nighttime falls, the darkness is complete.

I huddle beneath a single bulb, which throws

a circle of light before a brick facade,

and wait till morning.

time means nothing to me anymore

I have learned to pay attention:

this place is filled with sound.

I harness it to my own advantage.

Deep beneath the earth, I use what I have learned

to navigate my way back from whence I came.

----

Channelwood

amphibian chorus swells

to fill this strange and muggy air.

boardwalks maze among the ragged trunks

standing straight out of brackish water,

roots drowned, but still standing

strong.

trees lift a village up above the calm

and endless sea.

I climb.

Even as high above the water as I am

in this relentless wind,

swaying on rope bridges and

exploring gutted, empty dwellings,

utterly alone among

the left-behind lives of people

I will never know...

Even so, I've found a place

to sleep

and dream of what all this means

----

Rime

air, brittle with cold,

feathers into snow

and hardens into icy crust upon the rock.

a mosaic of rock and ice and sea and rusted

struts

supports this metal platform.

The melancholy cry of some great sea creature

unseen but for a sliver of greenish back

sliding through dark waters

lends this place a somber air.

Longing for heat, drawn to it,

I defrost the simple dwelling here;

through foggy tunnels, into the mountain,

I find a lost laboratory

and glimpse, through a window of crystal,

what is in store for me

tomorrow.

unleash the kraken

it's Monday night

the moon hangs above me in four pieces, small and fragile in the orange-black sky

muffled laughter seeps thru the ringing in my ears

I'm okay and I'm dying in the same breath.

I can't sleep

every smell and taste is too strong, and I flinch from them, and my hunger grows with each passing hour. time means little to me now. the world presses down on me like a million stones in avalanche

and I

lay down

and look up at the quadrupled moon

and I wonder how long this life will last

three minutes

and outside I know the snow is melting under the warm sun I cannot feel under these fluorescent lights that buzz and hum:

background radiation of my shrunken universe folded in on itself with the gravity of each person here:

chemicals and medications and blood and power and helplessness bagged in skin and gathered up for who knows what reason except that it happened and we have to deal with it somehow:

three minutes can be a very long time

Frivolous purchase??

I don't do this very often with expensive items, but I just bought this for myself:

http://www.dinosaurcorporation.com/slothskull1.html

It is a replica of a female hoffmann's two-toed sloth skull. I'm thinking of it as like a Halloween present to myself?? I'm going to use it both as an art reference and as a decorative piece in my house...

Cost me $100...





DX




pax.

Rocky Mountain Fur Con 2014

It's been over a week since the convention and I didn't take any notes when I got home, so let's see how good my memory is! If I forget to mention someone--especially you, dear reader, if I forget to mention you and you were there--I'm sorry! I've just been so freakin' busy since the con ended I haven't had a chance to write this up yet!

--

Yes, I'm going to write about another furry convention. This one, the Rocky Mountain Fur Con, is held in Denver every year, in August. I've gone before in 2011 (back when I still identified with a lion, instead of a sloth) and again in 2013 (the first year I got to wear my sloth costume!). This year it was held in a different, larger, hotel--the Marriott Tech Center across from the Belleview light rail station.

Now that I'm more-or-less settled in Denver, I will probably continue to attend this con every year for the foreseeable future.

This year's theme was "14ers!"--i.e., mountain-climbing-- getting down into the roots of this con as a "Rocky Mountain" con.

--

~ Friday, Aug. 8th ~

On Friday I had to work until 4 p.m., so I rode the light rail to work with all my stuff in tow so that I could go straight to the con on the train after work without having to stop by home first. I had printed, but not yet laminated, the art badges that several people had paid me to make for them, so I brought my laminator to work, then bought some lamination sheets and finished up the badges on my lunch break.

I showed one of my coworkers my sloth head during lunch too and she thought it was awesome X3

This was my first time taking the light rail, and even though it is very expensive for how slow it is and how limited its locations are, I thought it was super nifty. I love trains. In another life I could totally be an autistic boy with a train obsession--there's just something about them, idk.

ANYYYYWAAYY...

The first person I saw when I rolled up to the con w/ my suitcase was Salem. He was standing outside smoking and talking to folk. I chatted for a bit, then went inside to pick up my pre-registered conbadge and the conbook.

I was super pleased to see that the story I had submitted to the conbook was in there! You can read it online here! I bugged basically all my friends to read it, haha. Those that did thought it was cute, which is all I could hope for. I had a 650 word limit because of the limited conbook space, so I decided to write a little fable in the style of Aesop's fables. It riffed off "the Tortoise and the Hare," but the moral of the story is quite different. Have a read of it and let me know what you think ~

After getting my book I went into the Dealer's Den to find Menagerie Workshop's table, who had the sloth feet I had commissioned a few months ago with them there. AHHH I LOVE MY NEW FEET THEY ARE AWESOME! They're all curled in and awkward and perfect. (you can see them in the picture below...!)

Also in the dealer's den I managed to find a few skull pins for my purse, and to snag a copy of the comic Epiphany by Ian Jay. I'm absolutely in love with their art style--and they signed it and drew me a little sketch of a three-toed sloth in the front of the book! w00t!

After I got my feet and merch, I spent a lot of time wandering around the con looking for the people whose badges I had made. I found most of them that night, but had a few I needed to track down the next day.

When Led got off work, we went to go pick him up in Wolf's car, and then stopped by the Elephant Bar and Grille for supper before returning to the con. I had already eaten, so I just ordered some red wine, and Led bought it for me as a belated birthday present <3

Back at the con I got into suit and found my Spring-friend (aka Spring Dragon):

 

 (photo of me in my realistic two-toed sloth costume, waving at the camera, with my arm around my friend in a realistic Akita costume, who is hugging me)

I also managed to find Senshi (aka thewhitesoldier on FA), who was gracious enough to run upstairs and grab the bead badge she'd made for me as a trade. AHHH I LOVE IT SO. I handed her a full-body badge of her character Aircraft in exchange :)

(photo of the badge, a large rendition of Tica's face with a red hibiscus over her ear, made out of Perler beads)

After this at some point Salem and I went to the dance, where I danced in slow motion (and attracted a group of folks who danced in slow motion around me, haha), and Salem found a glowstick bracelet and stuck it in my claws. We didn't stay and dance for very long because we were so exhausted, so we went up to Salem's room after just a few songs. (of course, it took FOREVER for us to get to and from the dance because whenever I'm in suit I get stopped a lot for pictures ^^;)

Salem was rooming with Wolf and Samifur, a good friend of ours (and Led's boyfriend!!) currently visiting from Scotland. Wolf invited me to stay in their room that night too, but I had some stuff to do at home, so I left my suitcase, fursuit and laminator in their room and then Salem walked me to the train station and waited with me for the train (all the while nodding off, haha). He also read my conbook story and said it was cute. ^^;

Then, yeah, I got home kinda late and sunk right into bed, excited for the next day!

~ Saturday, Aug. 9th ~

I got up at about 9 am, drank some tea to wake up fully, and went off to the liquor store and the grocery store to stock up on food and booze for the rest of the con. Got us some Kraken black spiced rum (IT WAS AMAZING), pineapple juice, and coconut cream for homemade pina coladas, and then picked up some Samuel Adams as well for Salem. From the grocery store I just got food and snacks enough to last me for the rest of the con, since I was going to sleep in Wolf's room that night instead of going back and forth from home.

Had a really chill morning, just talking to people and wandering around. I picked up an amazing watercolor badge that Noka had made for me, and while I was at her table I was given this badge from Sesi--Tica dressed as a Likitung! IT IS SO CUTE. Likitung are really under-appreciated pokemon!

Right before the fursuit games I went and put my suit on, and Samifur took my camera and acted the handler for me. The games were in a really cramped room, and they seemed somewhat disorganized... I left before they were fully over. After a short break, it was time for the giant group photo (I stood right in the front!) and the fursuit parade! They let me start the parade and told everyone "PASS THE SLOTH" and about half of the parade passed me before I finished, haha. The parade route seemed really short this year though... I hope next year they figure out a longer route, so that the people watching won't be so crowded together.

After that it was more wandering around, checking out the dealer's den over and over, seeing people I know, dropping off the last of the badges I'd made for people. I only saw Hammond the Hippo once during the whole con (!!) so it was a good thing I had his badge on me when I did manage to see him!

I spent most of Saturday hanging out with Samifur. At some point we decided to go swimming, so we went, and Salem and his date, C-----, joined us after a while. I can't remember what we did after that... ran around getting sketches for Sami's book I think.

Then it was ROOM PARTY TIME!! Salem, C-----, Wolf, Samifur, and I cracked open the rum, drinking it either in pina colada form or in rum-and-pepsi form (I had forgotten to get coke earlier and the hotel vending machines only had pepsi). We got thai takeout to eat, which Salem and C----- went to go pick up, and it was pretty tasty (I had a gluten-free pad thai). We spent hours just talking and hanging out and drinking heavily, haha. There were many cuddles. Sami puked at one point and I felt sorry for him but he seemed to still be enjoying himself, so I guess it was okay.

Then it was bedtime... C----- went home when he was good enough to drive (he drank WAY less than the rest of us) and then in the dark Salem, Sami, Wolf and I had weird conversations until Wolf turned on his CPAP machine and we all nodded off.

~ Sunday, Aug. 10th ~

Sunday was even more chill than Saturday. We got up when we felt like it, packed up and cleaned our room, then got our stuff out for checkout. Everyone put their stuff in Wolf's car except me, since I was taking the train home, so I just carried my stuff in my rolly suitcase all day.

Finally picked an art print to buy from the dealer's den on Sunday--this print of a tribal anteater by artist Dark Natasha. She's a really cool person, and I freakin' love anteaters. (Did you know that anteaters and armadillos are the closest biological cousins to the sloth? A lot of people think that sloths are related to primates, but that's not the case at all!)

Anyway, even though the print already has her signature on it, I asked her to sign my picture in person and she sketched Tica on the back...!! Sorry the picture is all shiny; I laminated the print to protect it from damage, and I don't have a scanner right now, only a camera...

 (photo of the sloth sketch from Dark Natasha. Note reads, "Thank you and love your character")

...Come to think of it, turns out I didn't go to a single panel this year, besides fursuit stuffs. I guess I was having too much fun socializing.

I did put my suit on and do the second round of fursuit games in the afternoon... but, while we had more room this time, it also seemed ill-prepared and disorganized. I left sometime after Twister, even though the games continued for like another hour after I left them.

Found Ian the Gecko after that and bugged him to film me for his music video (I was supposed to do the filming with him on Saturday, but I, uh, got drunk instead)...  He was doing a furry version of the Weird Al song "Tacky," which you can watch here:





He had to speed my bit up in post, haha...

After this I took my fursuit off for good. I really love taking pictures with people and being silly and suiting, and I kind of wish I had worn the suit more over the course of the con (there's WAY less pictures of me floating around on the net this year than there were last year...), but I was just so busy socializing and hanging out with people I know and stuff that I felt like I didn't have time for it! At least I got *most* of the pictures I wanted to get with specific other suiters.

Eventually I will post all my pictures online somewhere and provide a link here.

After the dealer's den closed, we all went to hang out with Spring Dragon, who had been in there for most of the con and therefore not hanging out with us. We *were* going to go see a movie together, but we all got hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion so we just went across the street to get something to eat. I drank margaritas and decided that actually I don't like tequila very much, and we met up with some other random furries while we were eating there.

After this we all kinda parted ways, and Spring Dragon offered to drive me home which was super nice of him! We met some other people in the parking lot (among them my friends Feathergills and Troj) and talked for a while more before we actually got on the road.

I navigated Spring to my house and we chatted and he dropped me off at my door (turns out we don't live too far away from each other), then I was home and I had to spray my suit down with febreeze and unpack and start reading my comic and keeping up with new contacts on FA and tagging my pictures on facebook and other post-con busywork! I went to bed early as I could so I would be fresh for work in the morning, and that was that...!

I had a blast and I am super excited for next year :D

Pax.

Updated Wishlist

Just a little post to keep track of things I need & want. I'm not asking anyone for anything! (My birthday coming up soon is coincidental XD)

Could definitely use:

1. Refillable peppercorn grinder (got one from my Grandmamma's estate... RIP)

2. New headphones

3. More cool skinny ties

4. Bike shorts that look like normal shorts



Simply want:

1. Art commissions! Especially of my fursona, Tica

2. Any nerdy/cute 1-inch pin or button (for my purse)--esp. skulls!

3. Any of these cool Star Trek Books 

4. This Tetris seatbelt belt (bought this for myself for my 25th birthday!)

5. This (expensive) replica two-toed sloth skull (bought for myself for Halloween!)