oh, mama raised me well

updated ye olde neocities today - added some webrings, updated my own webrings, added some new art from this year

joined sprout! super cute microblogging/social media site with a lot of customization options for your profile!!

spent a few hours and put together a thing for our contract bargaining for staff development day this friday at work. needed to condense, like, four?? pages of information down to a better format and opted for a basic 4-fold brochure that we can print on 11x17 paper. i quite like how it turned out



moved some stuff from the porch to the basement - mostly gardening stuff. moved a bunch of the wood i salvaged from the old front stairs to the back porch, to use in the spring (after i de-screw/nail them). was going to move all the branches the handman cut down from the tree to the back, too, since the garbage isn't going to take them, but i don't have a good pair of gloves and they all have thorns x_x so they'll continue to sit on the devil's strip, i guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i don't work until 1pm tomorrow, which is gonna throw me off lol. i think i've closed for every election day since i started this job (which isn't a complaint, necessarily, just funny). but this is the first year the schedule has been shifted this way. usually it'd be the regular 12-8 shift, but stick around until the board of elections folks wrap up and get out of the building (which often takes far longer than it should - POLLS CLOSE AT 7:30PM WHY IS YOUR SHIT NOT PACKED UP AND OUT OF OUR KITCHEN BY 8PM) for how few voters we get at our place. idk if this will be a 'stay until 9pm even if they've left already' or 'stay until they leave and pad the rest out with your PTO' - i'd prefer the former lol

oryx dashed towards me, pasued and swatted my leg, then continued running into the living room

kicked back in my chair, posting to instagram, and a whole-ass spider drops down on its web between my face and my phone 😬

semagic had an UPDATE?? in the year of our lord twenty twenty-six??? holy shit

this feels more like off the cuff microblogging/twitter/bsky posting lol idk why doing a post on the website feels like i need to write a whole long-form post when i really just want somewhere to ramble

BUT ALSO, like, no one uses dw, so while i am often shouting into the void on bsky, it gets little likes and a comment or two, which is nice, y'know?

don't like so much the UI for the tags on semagic, tho. and i guess i should give a tag for just rambly bullshit things, as well

last night, sam messaged me if i wanted to come over and pass out candy for trick or treat because chris was working the haunt and our greater friend group has.........fractured significantly (b/c someone's prioritizing pussy over friendship in an 'i can fix her, no really i can' way). and, of course, YEAH, happy to come over, hang out, bullshit, watch kids get scared by an animatronic baphomet and jumping spider and get to see sadie (pictured) and george and digit (not pictured, cats lol)




i ended up dunking myself in bed around 11pm or so, after eating some aspirin and a pan bagnat to stave off a headache. completely forgot the clocks changed last night and woke up around 8am-ish wondering why it felt later than what the time said lol

i had to go drop off absentee ballot at the board of elections, WHICH I THOUGHTTTTT was downtown, LIKE IT WAS LAST TIME I WAS THERE (2024 lololol) and, no, they moved up to tallmadge ave which, like, ISN'T FAR, but it's an annoying location. but i made my way out there anyhow, hit the drop box (they didn't open until 1pm and it was, like, 11:30am when i left i think? maybe closer to noon), and then figured i would take the bike trail downtown and get a little treat at sweet mary's (which i did, a butterscotch latte and a pumpkin spice macaron and a maple cream macaron) and popped over to the library to gossip a bit with heather, the one security guard who used to work out at odom, and show her new cat pictures lol

also got to check out some tagging spots along the bike trail i don't see very often. really charmed by the absconded city bench and firepit, as well






i was going to just go back home and grab my ipad and go to angel falls and work on art, but it was REALLY nice out today and i wanted to enjoy it, so i biked up to merriman valley to hit up the thrift store there, because i hadn't been up that way since.......september, apparently. and unless the weather is nice, may not make it back up there until the spring lol - but it's nice having a few months between trips b/c they're such a small place that when i'm going on the regular, it feels like there's nothing really NEW. but when i wait awhile between trips, i usually have to take my time going thru the store to see what's changed

the towpath is in full autumn colors and a lot of the big trees have already lost all their leaves. everything is very crunchy rn lol







managed to make it home with one (1) bar of battery on my bike lol

october went hella fast - how tf is it november already??? but the colors changing has been pretty, got some art done, etc., etc.
also going to stop tagging these with the art tags and just...........try to remember to make actual art posts lol

dreamt about my mom last night?? but i can't recall if it was, like, a groundhog day situation for me specifically where it was mid-summer 2025 and i was Aware Of That and trying to claw out what i could of the time i knew was left, or if it was a sort of glitched in the matrix thing that kept flipping us back to mid-summer 2025 and we were trying to eke as much as we could out of that constant reset before it would inevitably wear out and stop
Shared post

honey, i rose up from the dead, i do it all the time
🎶

my bsky is suspended (intentionally - there was some weird activity on it and i put in a report) and i try not to actually POST on twitter (just scroll and retweet stuff and occasionally interact with the one or two people who are still there), so i'm jingling back here to post lolol

idk, i probably have things i could write/post about, but i'm sitting at work putzing around and can't think about anything useful atm lol

staff development day is next week at work, it's also november in two? days??? what the fuck is that shit.

october has been kind of eeh, i guess. the weather has been overall pretty nice, but i haven't gotten out an about a ton.

i DID bike out to kent.....maybe the first week? to get tony some birthday gifts at off the wagon/red letter days. it was nice to putz around with a little money in my pocket, too. i went over to einstein's attic (which is in the acme plaza now!), as well as the gabe's out there. minorly annoying that my bike battery dipped more than i like in the morning (i was using the throttle too much lol) and had to spend more time than i planned at the library charging it. i really wish i could find a place i could park my bike AND plug it in, so i can wander around while it recharges and not have to think too much about it, but all the outlets at the library have 'out of order' on them and while i'm PRETTY SURE they work i don't want to be That Library Patron lol

but it's been alright overall, i guess. had the first visit with my pcp since my surgery (or before my surgery) and things have been good since then. healing has been good, the abdominal muscle pain that'd been most significant is completely gone now. i can eat normally, as well, aside from the pretty normal pre-surgery occurrence of eating garbage and my tummy getting upset a little. but i also haven't had any heartburn since the gallbladder came out, as well!

howeverrrrr, since my surgery, i've been shedding hair like CRAZY. it's so thin now and, while that's what i would've loved as a teen in the 90's and wanted cool, greasy rock-chick hair and hated my thick, always-frizzy hair, once i finally learned out to take care of my thick, frizzy hair i loved it! and now it's very thin and i lose a lot of it just running my hands thru it (makes it had to wear it down, too, b/c i'm shedding so much more). endo said that it COULD be delayed affects of the anesthesia - sometimes it happens months after. it could be a side effect from my gallbladder surgery - something like 30-40% of people experience exactly what i've had happening. it could be, y'know, my lack now of two organs (thyroid, gallbladder) that have to do with hormones! so i'm waiting it out, i suppose, not much else i can do at the moment. on the upside: i can wear cute hair clips! which means maybe i'll buy the opossum one i've been eyeing for a long time

burning at both ends...

keep your guard up, girl

are you ready for the fall?
are you ready for the comedown?
better start running while you still got some time
rock bottom, if it ain't hit you yet
then you're well, well on your way
🎶

took a cleaver, carved my heart out
for a taste of claimed saintliness
🎶

she said, "i've swallowed a secret burning thread"
"it cuts me inside, and often i've bled."
🎶

i used to be a junkie for love
but i'm plannin' on givin' it up
i can't afford the late nights
i can't afford the goodbyes
🎶

semi-busy month, furrest city fur con happened about halfway through! plus lots of cats and clouds lol

[wheeze]

WE HAD OUR SECOND YEAR OF FURREST CITY FUR CON THIS YEAR AND HAD 591 ATTENDEES!!!!!!!!



which is a 3x increase from last year, where we had just under 200 attendees! we were in a much smaller space last year and really had to limit the bodies in that space, but between general convention promo, anthrohio shifting their picnic so we didn't both fall on the same day like last year, all the meets throughout the year furrest city does in cleveland, etc., etc., it's no surprise our numbers jumped so drastically!

we were held at cleveland state student center, right near playhouse square, so the theme was broadway or-- ~on pawdway~

i rode up to cleveland with delusionaldeer (and their friend who's name i don't remember now), since my original ride (kovrick) had a schedule change that worked out well for him, but i was NOT gonna have him drive down to akron and then back up to cle when he could use that to get an extra hour of sleep (night shifts). drive was nice (chatted a lot), but rainy, and thankfully parking was not too much of a pain

we did a very fun little skit for opening ceremonies where i played a time-traveler from the 1996 confurence east convention (that was held in cleveland!) - i was, coincidentally, dressed pretty period accurate, too lol (wide leg jeans, crop top, flannel lol)






some screencaps from opening ceremonies - video taken by thegothbear


the venue was pretty nice! spacious enough for us to accommodate people well, plus some balconies we were able to use, and the student center was MOSTLY empty all weekend, so folks could hang out on the first floor - also where we did the fursuit photo




downside of the student center was absolutely lame-ass food options (chick-fil-a and sbux and an all-you-can-eat campus place that everyone said was mid at best) with sucky hours (the sbux wasn't even open on saturday!), but there was an indian place everyone raved about cattycorner across the street (i didn't make it over to it all weekend lol), a subway in the other direction, and some other food places scattered around within, like, a 10min walking distance, so it wasn't too bad to find something to put in your belly.

the cleveland weather fought with us a bit - it was forecast to be rainy, so we did end up nixing the outside walks (at the advice of our weather skunk, mezo) and the fursuit parade, but around the time they were scheduled, the weather would let up and it was mainly just cloudy! something, something, if you don't like the weather just wait five minutes

i spent a lot of time just zipping around and being out on the con floor and catching up with people and yapping and stuff (ESPECIALLY about world of darkness and some destiny stuff with satre!!!!). we established con ops this year, so kezl and i swapped out as needed with that. i threw a lot of little notes in my keep for stuff for next year for con ops to possibly have on hand - fursuit repair supplies, pads/tampons (there were NONE in any of the restrooms in the student center OR the one nearby hall i went looking thru!!), folders or something for paperwork (volunteer forms, incident reports, minor forms, etc.). easy things to acquire throughout the year that aren't pricey, as well

i also finally got to meet and chat with ajahli and devillo!! we've been following each other online for awhile now and have chit-chatted between bsky and discord and stuff before, but haven't crossed paths in person. ajahli showed off their sketchbook to me and i gushed over it - everything she draws is so cute and i love the way they do kinda collage-y/scrapbooky kind of vibes. it was so nice to yap with her lol

at some point saturday there was discussion about getting smoothies, which was axed b/c i went to check pulp's website to see what they had and discovered they CLOSED AT THREE PM????? and it was, like, 6pm when we were closing up reg, so that was a no-go. HOWEVER, there's a ben & jerry's right down the road, so we made the little trek there and i got a delicious honey graham latte scoop and i wish they sold this in pints b/c it's SO good



saturday night i crashed at socks + buzz's place (iirc lol names are hard sometime) on a super cozy couch and got to meet and play with their ratties for a bit!

i didn't go to hardly any panels, but on sunday i DID go to recess (run by staticprisms and halfofacat or y2kute) and had a BLAST playing parachute games with folks



we DID make it to pulp (before 3pm lolol) on sunday and i got a pumpkin pie thing (pulp pumpkin blend, new coco whip, soy milk, yogurt, and bananas), which was ALSO delicious lol



i didn't buy too much, but i got a lot of stickers and a zine trade (and left a lot of zines and stickers around!) plus two plushes from mint (BAB ocicat kitty and folkmanis ant glove puppet)! - my big purchase was the 'squeak-o-ween' possum from zero remnants and i snagged a patch and sticker from deartigerco. thankfully for my wallet there wasn't anything aside from the possum i desperately needed to come home with me - but the vendor selection was A+ again this year and the room was always bustling when i popped in



before kovrick and i left for the evening, we popped in the dead dog dance and ke$ha pulled me onto the floor and then, as we were heading out of the dance, i heard the beginning to 'shake it off' and taylor pulled me back in from the hallway lol. feral about pop being played at furcons b/c it's so fun to dance to and sing, but so many furries want techno of some variety instead [insert eyeroll emoji here lol]

before we left cleveland, we hit up barrio nearby (i hadn't been) and i had a very good taco bowl and queso and salsa and we ended up being there longer than expected b/c kovrick's second taco never arrived??? and then the kitchen took FOREVER to make another??? AND THEN WHEN I LOOKED IN MY TAKEOUT BAG (got stuff for tony) IT WAS IN WITH MY SIDES??????????????????? so now i have a shawarma taco to eat lolol

but, yeah, the con was good. i had a lot of people come up to me to thank me for the work i do with the ohiofurs social media/meets calendar, to ask me about zine stuff, to just be like 'hey i appreciate what you do and i like seeing you around online it's great to finally meet you', which just feels good, y'know? it feels good to be part of a community

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my ONLY weekend gripe was that i bounced over to koko bakery (the asian bakery in asiatown, which was SUPER close) TWICE over the weekend and they were WIPED OUT of buns and pastries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



i got two buns on saturday and stopped at tink holl and got some other snackies (salted vanilla pocky, spicy shrimp chips, chicken & herb pretz, scallop soy sauce pretz) and on sunday i got a whole THREE buns, but stopped at park-to-shop and got some other stuff (pumpkin pie pocky, peppermint pocky, my beloved sponge cake with the thin layer of butter in the middle, etc). so i was pretty bummed about not being able to bring home a big bag of buns from koko's. but i also went at weird times, which didn't help the situation lol

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and, finally, a couple pics from my outings

i always think there's nothing going on in august, and then i have geekfest and pride and a bunch of things happening

july was pretty busy in a lowkey way?? anthrocon, quite a bit of biking out and about and enjoying the nice weather (minus the couple days we had that canadian wildfire smoke happening)

feeling like rambling

post-surgery healing has gone well. i'm pretty much all healed up aside from some of my abdominal wall muscles still getting situated. i had one last week where i could FEEL the stitch pulling when i moved certain ways and that was Weird, but now it's just dull if i move weird, which is an improvement. but healing was pretty easy and i've been able to eat normally and it doesn't really feel like much has changed from before my surgery, which i'm thankful about lol

i've been in a funk this latter half of the month b/c we're coming up on a year since bud died, which isn't the important thing, but it HAS also been about a year since the last time my mom and i hung out before everything hit the fan, and i've been feeing some type of way about it - mostly mad, but also sad. we did a lot of summer stuff together (fairs, swimming, driving around, etc., etc) so summer's been really bittersweet this year

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i biked out to kent last weekend, since i wanted to hit up the farmer's market (and get some safe produce lol). i forget how much of a slog most of the ride is - it's not that it's bad, it's a very nice bike trail and about the halfway point is tallmadge circle, so can stop and eat or whatever, but the rest is kind of just............nothing to really look at or stop and check out, just trail and woods, so it's kinda boring and seems like the hour takes longer than when i take the towpath up to szalay's or something and stop at all the trailheads or to check out the marsh and stuff

the ride back feels surprisingly fast, though, dunno what that's about lol



but it was nice (and also bittersweet!!!! because i think the last time i was in kent was also WITH MY MOM) to putz around downtown. i miss living in kent a lot, but it's SO expensive now and i also have a job i love in akron, so i'm putting up with it lol (seven years later)

did finally get to use the new bridge and switchback at the middlebury road trailhead! it was, uh, fun to ride down with my squeaky brakes lol, but much nicer than using the roadway with no bike lanes and sharp curves that the cars come around! lots of wildflowers along the new paths, too