Of FC Mini-Report and Other Updates
FURTHER CONFUSION
Gah, I'm such a procrastinator with this thing nowadays. Oh well, I'm still around, and doing well. I went to FC with kynekh_amagire on Sunday, and while a bit hectic, it was an absolute blast. Naturally there was the joy of saying hi to old friends, and reminiscing about last years ups and downs. I met a lot of friendly new people as well (annonymous guy helping me with my panel equipment, thank you so much!) and the place was generally all smiles. I did get to meet a lot of people for various amounts of time, so I'm kind of scared to make callouts here on the off chance that I miss someone. You all know who you are, though!
One of the highlights for me, of course, was doing the Gryphon Panel again. It was a great surprise to have athelind co-host the panel again - I swear, that guy has some great comic timing and energy. (Not to mention a brain for gryphons and dragons and the like!) Another surprise was the huge turnout... And I do mean HUGE. There were about 30 people at the panel last year, and this year was easilly double that, which was agreed upon by those who attended last year. We normally do introductions ("Hi, I'm Eclipse, I'm a gryphon, and I like gryphons 'cause they're sexy"), but after we went through about 5 people, Athe and I looked at each other and quickly appologized that we had to cut that short to move on. (I could see some of the attendees getting that pained "Oh crap, we're going to introduce for 50 minutes and then talk for 10" look. Don't worry, guys, Athe and I are professionals!)
As usual, there were lots of great questions and information offering by the attendees, and I got a sense that they really liked the pace that Athe and I set. There was a good bit of comedy in there too, which is relatively easy when you can take innocent potshots at other species avatars like dragons and non-mythics and the like. :> As I had hoped, the "Gryphon Test" was a big success, although only about a third of the attendees wanted to participate. Participants or no, I think everyone enjoyed that brief "teaching" interlude. It actually came down to a battle between our very own tailypo and a nice gryphon (promoting some gryphon t-shirts nonetheless!)I had just met earlier named jaelyn . Both of these two just wouldn't stop getting the answers right, and the Rodents panel were already kicking down the doors (or at least gnawing at them), so Athe turned the final question into a lightning round. Tserisa came away the victor, being able to quickly answer the following question - "According to The Description of Greece by Pausanius, gryphons were said to have what kind of markings?" (And no, I'm not giving away the answer. Do your own research. :p) As the winner, Tser walked away with this framed art specifically made by Kynekh for this trivia contest.
So I did the test thing that I said I wanted to do after last year's panel. Next up is setting together an Adult Gryphon Panel, which again was talked about and requested by a large number of attendees. Jaelyn hooked me up with Kiteless (who does the Adult Dragon Panel and will be the Events Coordinator for next year's FC) and he thinks that it's a great idea and shouldn't be too hard to set up. My only problem is that... well, I'm getting transferred this summer, and there's a possibility I won't be within driving distance of FC next year. If that's true, given the fact that I'm thousands of dollars in debt thanks to the divorce, I have no idea if I would be able to attend FC again. But that's something to worry about more down the road.
DIVORCE
The divorce continues to move along, albeit much more swiftly with this new lawyer of mine. We're going to try and lower this absurd monthly support first, then figure out the final support. I still can't believe that it's been almost a year and we're still only this far along in the divorce. On the plus side, I just filed my taxes (remembered to mark down the alimony I've paid her as a deductable, whoo!) so in a week I'll be receiving enough money to pay off the $2,000 for Cody's lawyer, which will hopefully get him off of my back about this contempt of court thing. I love that I keep getting reminded about this fact, as if I am doing this intentionally. No, actually, I WANT to pay you, but thanks to Cody abusing the system and lying about the birds, I kind of have no money to pay you with. You can't squeeze water from a stone, dude.
PETS
The schmuckatiels are all three doing fantastic. They're getting a good amount of out time, and we're even getting them on some fresh greens every once in a while. Fortunately the only cat with any predatory instincts seems to be Cider-quat, but with his messed up hind legs he won't be doing much hunting. The only things that Winston seems to be willing to hunt are catnip toys, and Lady Grey pretty much only sniffs around for dry food, then yaps and meows like crazy until her bowl is refilled. It's still very fun to cause her to yap just by touching her. Every time my hand moves away from her, and then returns, it's another yap. I have strangely enough stayed in bed for an hour just doing this with her. :p
BOWLING WATCH
This is officially the craziest Bowling Watch that I have ever stood. I more often than not see around 20 to 30 patrons total throught the night, and $30 profit. Maximum. Right now there are about 40 people in the Bowling Center alone, I've seen over 100 people come through so far, and I'm at $150 profit. I've had a couple of fights and gripes about who gets what lane, lots of waiting lists for lanes (which I've only done once before in the two years I've done this), spilled drinks, bowlers doing dumb things, a little boy who lost his father and came to me for help, and family who was upset that I wouldn't change one of the sports/news televisions to a cartoon show for their little girl.
BLACK GRYPHON NEEDS SLEEP, BADLY.
BLACK GRYPHON IS ABOUT TO DIE.
Gah, I'm such a procrastinator with this thing nowadays. Oh well, I'm still around, and doing well. I went to FC with kynekh_amagire on Sunday, and while a bit hectic, it was an absolute blast. Naturally there was the joy of saying hi to old friends, and reminiscing about last years ups and downs. I met a lot of friendly new people as well (annonymous guy helping me with my panel equipment, thank you so much!) and the place was generally all smiles. I did get to meet a lot of people for various amounts of time, so I'm kind of scared to make callouts here on the off chance that I miss someone. You all know who you are, though!
One of the highlights for me, of course, was doing the Gryphon Panel again. It was a great surprise to have athelind co-host the panel again - I swear, that guy has some great comic timing and energy. (Not to mention a brain for gryphons and dragons and the like!) Another surprise was the huge turnout... And I do mean HUGE. There were about 30 people at the panel last year, and this year was easilly double that, which was agreed upon by those who attended last year. We normally do introductions ("Hi, I'm Eclipse, I'm a gryphon, and I like gryphons 'cause they're sexy"), but after we went through about 5 people, Athe and I looked at each other and quickly appologized that we had to cut that short to move on. (I could see some of the attendees getting that pained "Oh crap, we're going to introduce for 50 minutes and then talk for 10" look. Don't worry, guys, Athe and I are professionals!)
As usual, there were lots of great questions and information offering by the attendees, and I got a sense that they really liked the pace that Athe and I set. There was a good bit of comedy in there too, which is relatively easy when you can take innocent potshots at other species avatars like dragons and non-mythics and the like. :> As I had hoped, the "Gryphon Test" was a big success, although only about a third of the attendees wanted to participate. Participants or no, I think everyone enjoyed that brief "teaching" interlude. It actually came down to a battle between our very own tailypo and a nice gryphon (promoting some gryphon t-shirts nonetheless!)I had just met earlier named jaelyn . Both of these two just wouldn't stop getting the answers right, and the Rodents panel were already kicking down the doors (or at least gnawing at them), so Athe turned the final question into a lightning round. Tserisa came away the victor, being able to quickly answer the following question - "According to The Description of Greece by Pausanius, gryphons were said to have what kind of markings?" (And no, I'm not giving away the answer. Do your own research. :p) As the winner, Tser walked away with this framed art specifically made by Kynekh for this trivia contest.
So I did the test thing that I said I wanted to do after last year's panel. Next up is setting together an Adult Gryphon Panel, which again was talked about and requested by a large number of attendees. Jaelyn hooked me up with Kiteless (who does the Adult Dragon Panel and will be the Events Coordinator for next year's FC) and he thinks that it's a great idea and shouldn't be too hard to set up. My only problem is that... well, I'm getting transferred this summer, and there's a possibility I won't be within driving distance of FC next year. If that's true, given the fact that I'm thousands of dollars in debt thanks to the divorce, I have no idea if I would be able to attend FC again. But that's something to worry about more down the road.
DIVORCE
The divorce continues to move along, albeit much more swiftly with this new lawyer of mine. We're going to try and lower this absurd monthly support first, then figure out the final support. I still can't believe that it's been almost a year and we're still only this far along in the divorce. On the plus side, I just filed my taxes (remembered to mark down the alimony I've paid her as a deductable, whoo!) so in a week I'll be receiving enough money to pay off the $2,000 for Cody's lawyer, which will hopefully get him off of my back about this contempt of court thing. I love that I keep getting reminded about this fact, as if I am doing this intentionally. No, actually, I WANT to pay you, but thanks to Cody abusing the system and lying about the birds, I kind of have no money to pay you with. You can't squeeze water from a stone, dude.
PETS
The schmuckatiels are all three doing fantastic. They're getting a good amount of out time, and we're even getting them on some fresh greens every once in a while. Fortunately the only cat with any predatory instincts seems to be Cider-quat, but with his messed up hind legs he won't be doing much hunting. The only things that Winston seems to be willing to hunt are catnip toys, and Lady Grey pretty much only sniffs around for dry food, then yaps and meows like crazy until her bowl is refilled. It's still very fun to cause her to yap just by touching her. Every time my hand moves away from her, and then returns, it's another yap. I have strangely enough stayed in bed for an hour just doing this with her. :p
BOWLING WATCH
This is officially the craziest Bowling Watch that I have ever stood. I more often than not see around 20 to 30 patrons total throught the night, and $30 profit. Maximum. Right now there are about 40 people in the Bowling Center alone, I've seen over 100 people come through so far, and I'm at $150 profit. I've had a couple of fights and gripes about who gets what lane, lots of waiting lists for lanes (which I've only done once before in the two years I've done this), spilled drinks, bowlers doing dumb things, a little boy who lost his father and came to me for help, and family who was upset that I wouldn't change one of the sports/news televisions to a cartoon show for their little girl.
BLACK GRYPHON NEEDS SLEEP, BADLY.
BLACK GRYPHON IS ABOUT TO DIE.