Erk. I've been distracted by life...
Wow, what a year! It's been busy, hectic, scary, a lot of fun, and just HAPPY.
FurCons: We went to Further Confusion this January- with just barely-completed dragon heads and tails- had a blast, got lots of photos, shot video and laughed ourselves sick at the Adult Dragon Panel. Damn, that was fun. Let's do it again! Went to Califur in June just before our wedding, too- more furry fun and happy scritchings! Rawr!
The Big Move: I got that visa to enter the States, and finally, in April, we drove from Vancouver to Winnipeg to pick up my already-packed gear, stuff all of the into a teeny U-haul, get a protesting and drugged feline into her carrier, put some kind of a cap on my f***ing nerves for the border-crossing, say goodbye to everyone back home... The drive was long, tiring, beautiful in places, Diva cried a lot of the way until we allowed her to continue the ride under my seat, where she cried less and occasionally did the "vampire kitty" thing, only coming out to view the scenery at night. Note for future reference: THE DRUGS DO NOT WORK. poor kitty was still upset, panicked and generally loud for a good amount of the time, dear thing...
I take it as an omen of good that the first bird I saw on the other side of the border was a Bald Eagle.
I have pix, but I dunno where the heck they went. Drat.
We lived together happily, if nervously (awaiting a certain interview), getting our stuff together, preparing for the Big Day...
Wedding: I dunno how the heck we did it. Really. It was gorgeous, we had friends come from all over, including one lovely soul all the way from Britain, I managed to get our wedding-outfits made, along with our wedding bands, these funky dragon torcs we had our hearts set on (glitches with those- they later had to be re-built, dangit)... We looked f***ing AWESOME. Rich blue silk, and velvet, beadwork, and long strands of precious-stone garlanding our necks in the Old Style of the medieval era. We even had Renaissance music playing over loud-speakers, one of the visiting relatives had brought her flute, so she played for us while I made my entrance, we had a medieval feast (I planned much of the menu, even supplied a recipe for leek soup that went over well), drank mead and had much genteel hurrah. We were mostly older folk, so a big whoop-up wasn't gonna happen. But I did get to enjoy the majority of the mead- greedy dragoness likes her honey wine... *chuckles* I have some sweet pics, if anyone cares to nose through them:
Here's the concept-sketch for our wedding outfits:
The torcs and wedding rings I made for us (yes, they're silver):
In full regalia as the King and Queen of the Fae:
As our dragon selves, just for fun:
Playing up the snooty King and Queen thing:
Art: been trying to go full-time on the art and costume/clothing-design, but it's been a slow slog getting me up to speed. I seem to stall if allowed to do anything else (like going camping)- I have to "boot up" again to get anything done. Working on that, but at least, it seems to be happening a little less as time goes on. Been getting a fairly steady list of commissions going, too, which is nice, and people seem to like my plush-toys. :)
The "Interview": finally, we go to get that final interview done with- the one where we get asked various questions that really mean squat and we hopefully get my status upgraded to Resident and receive my Green Card. Did you know, the stupid questions that they asked in the seventies are STILL on the danged interview list? Like THIS little gem: "Are you a member of, or affiliated with, the Communist Party?" My answer? "McCarthy's dead, and so's the Cold War..." I actually got a laugh out of the guy- that was pretty cool. He later gave us the little piece of paper that signified my change in status, and we find out he was the Director himself! Oop. My flippant answer could have borked things with a fellow of lesser humour...
Breathing a sigh of relief, I've been slowly getting my work-space settled, organized, and arranged for making the neat stuff the folks on FA have been growing to love, and I'm planning my table display for Further Confusion this January. :) Got my spot in the Furry Marketplace, I'm still waiting on the notification on my panel in the Art-Show, and I'm nearly at my goal for jewelry for my table. Now, I should concentrate on the art-prints, my submissions for the Art-Show, and some clothing designs that have been burning their way through my brain.
That's all for now, folks, and hopefully, I'll remember to update this thing a little more often!
FurCons: We went to Further Confusion this January- with just barely-completed dragon heads and tails- had a blast, got lots of photos, shot video and laughed ourselves sick at the Adult Dragon Panel. Damn, that was fun. Let's do it again! Went to Califur in June just before our wedding, too- more furry fun and happy scritchings! Rawr!
The Big Move: I got that visa to enter the States, and finally, in April, we drove from Vancouver to Winnipeg to pick up my already-packed gear, stuff all of the into a teeny U-haul, get a protesting and drugged feline into her carrier, put some kind of a cap on my f***ing nerves for the border-crossing, say goodbye to everyone back home... The drive was long, tiring, beautiful in places, Diva cried a lot of the way until we allowed her to continue the ride under my seat, where she cried less and occasionally did the "vampire kitty" thing, only coming out to view the scenery at night. Note for future reference: THE DRUGS DO NOT WORK. poor kitty was still upset, panicked and generally loud for a good amount of the time, dear thing...
I take it as an omen of good that the first bird I saw on the other side of the border was a Bald Eagle.
I have pix, but I dunno where the heck they went. Drat.
We lived together happily, if nervously (awaiting a certain interview), getting our stuff together, preparing for the Big Day...
Wedding: I dunno how the heck we did it. Really. It was gorgeous, we had friends come from all over, including one lovely soul all the way from Britain, I managed to get our wedding-outfits made, along with our wedding bands, these funky dragon torcs we had our hearts set on (glitches with those- they later had to be re-built, dangit)... We looked f***ing AWESOME. Rich blue silk, and velvet, beadwork, and long strands of precious-stone garlanding our necks in the Old Style of the medieval era. We even had Renaissance music playing over loud-speakers, one of the visiting relatives had brought her flute, so she played for us while I made my entrance, we had a medieval feast (I planned much of the menu, even supplied a recipe for leek soup that went over well), drank mead and had much genteel hurrah. We were mostly older folk, so a big whoop-up wasn't gonna happen. But I did get to enjoy the majority of the mead- greedy dragoness likes her honey wine... *chuckles* I have some sweet pics, if anyone cares to nose through them:
Here's the concept-sketch for our wedding outfits:
The torcs and wedding rings I made for us (yes, they're silver):
In full regalia as the King and Queen of the Fae:
As our dragon selves, just for fun:
Playing up the snooty King and Queen thing:
Art: been trying to go full-time on the art and costume/clothing-design, but it's been a slow slog getting me up to speed. I seem to stall if allowed to do anything else (like going camping)- I have to "boot up" again to get anything done. Working on that, but at least, it seems to be happening a little less as time goes on. Been getting a fairly steady list of commissions going, too, which is nice, and people seem to like my plush-toys. :)
The "Interview": finally, we go to get that final interview done with- the one where we get asked various questions that really mean squat and we hopefully get my status upgraded to Resident and receive my Green Card. Did you know, the stupid questions that they asked in the seventies are STILL on the danged interview list? Like THIS little gem: "Are you a member of, or affiliated with, the Communist Party?" My answer? "McCarthy's dead, and so's the Cold War..." I actually got a laugh out of the guy- that was pretty cool. He later gave us the little piece of paper that signified my change in status, and we find out he was the Director himself! Oop. My flippant answer could have borked things with a fellow of lesser humour...
Breathing a sigh of relief, I've been slowly getting my work-space settled, organized, and arranged for making the neat stuff the folks on FA have been growing to love, and I'm planning my table display for Further Confusion this January. :) Got my spot in the Furry Marketplace, I'm still waiting on the notification on my panel in the Art-Show, and I'm nearly at my goal for jewelry for my table. Now, I should concentrate on the art-prints, my submissions for the Art-Show, and some clothing designs that have been burning their way through my brain.
That's all for now, folks, and hopefully, I'll remember to update this thing a little more often!