The FlameDrake Show

Are our bleeding hearts drying up?

2011-03-11T16:04:33Z

It seems 2011 is the year for the natural disaster, if I held any belief that the world was going to end at 2012 I'd have a pretty good case to climb atop of my soapbox right now and start preaching. Floods, fires, earthquakes, tsunamis... good ol mother nature seems to have it out for us at the moment and the media is in a bonanza of shock and sympathy coverage that has us glued to our seat in fear we may miss out on something. Disaster is not without profit, and exploiting humanities inquisitive and sympathetic nature is on top agenda for the world news.

It came as a shock to me to see that only one station (a subsidiary station at that) covered potentially the worst disaster this year has seen to date. I mean no discredit to the disaster that swept Christchurch, NZ; but as the devastation of the earthquake in NZ unfolded, every station on Australian television quickly established themselves as the leaders in reporting and fund raising for appeal and relief. The Australian government committed troops and rescue teams within hours and like the Queensland floods, Australia opened their hearts and wallets to help.

This leads the question, that now... many hours after the impact of the earthquake and the devastating tsunami that followed, where is the comprehensive coverage? where is the commitments? where is the deep pockets of the sorrowed heart? Now if you want to know anything about the disaster in Japan, you have to flick over to ABC3 to get content-less, uncommitted repeat footage with over exaggeratedly bias media spin to keep you watching as they cross back and forward to unrelated threat locations under the highly unlikely pretense that the viewer may witness another disaster strike! Chile had a 6.8 earthquake only last month and the world carried on as business as usual, I hadn't even HEARD of it happening until reading up on it today.

The multi-million donation dollar question is: Are we rapidly desensitizing to disaster or merely over glorifying other coverage because it's in our own backyard? Are our sympathetic bleeding hearts only a shallow flag for an inherently selfish disposition to care only when it could potentially effect or relate to us? 400+ people are reported dead, Japan has openly identified as being ready to accept aid.... where are the superpowers commitment and support? Where is the comprehensive media coverage bringing education so the private entities who (are after a tax break) can afford to donate to an appeal can do so?
...
When George Takei and Alyssa Milano are strumming up more relief appeal on their twitters than the Australian news... there is something seriously wrong in this world.

Left Fur Dead Stats and stuff.

2010-11-01T19:30:29Z

Spent the greater of 6 hours working on these tonight.
Folks who submitted as per request of twitter have been included, if you wish to be added please give me a poke. If you didnt poke me about it, I havent added you even if I know you play with us alot (respecting people not to be weighted up against others) Understand all the below statistics are intended for a bit of fun and by no means a indication of skill nor 100% accurate.

Atpaw, Drake, Kaz, Sek, Oz, Miles, Fairbank, Weasely, Ravs, Bingo, Foxy and Kiba submitted thier player information and fun facts were found below.

Tank Sharpshooter:
Thrown the most rocks as a tank
1st. Fairbank - 95 rocks thrown
2nd. Kaz - 51 rocks thrown
3rd. Sekular - 41 Rocks thrown

Addict
Most games played
1st. Drake - 182
2nd. Kaz - 180
3rd. Oz - 152

Backing the odds.
Win percentage
1st. Kaz - 65%
2nd. Sek - 59% (over both accounts)
3rd. Bingo - 58%

Tanks for the points
Dealt the most damage with a single tank
1st. Drake - 11147 points
2nd. Oz - 10350 points
3rd. Atpaw - 8261 points

Making it count!
The longest life average special infected.
1st. Kiba - Spitter - 1 minute 38
2nd. Weasely - Spitter - 1 minute 25
3rd. Foxy - Hunter - 1 minute 14
Last. Tied Drake - Boomer and Bingo - Charger. 30 seconds.

"Special" infected!
Highest average of Survivors hit per match
1st. Kaz - 48
2nd. Oz - 40
3rd. Atpaw - 40

Boomer
To date 8525 survivors have needed a change of clothes.
A boomers life expectancy amongst all players is about 43 seconds.
Weasely likes to hold onto his fat friend. His boomers last on average 51 seconds.
Drake prefers to go out with a bang... lasting only on average 31 seconds
The best boom to date is Fairbank with a single boomer racking up 510 points.
The average best boom amongst players is around 332 points.
Miles gets the most boom for his buck. On average he vomits on 9.25 survivors a game.

Hunter
4923 survivors have had thier guts ripped open by a hunter pounce.
Hunters go from hunter to hunted to dead in about 50 seconds on average.
Ravs takes time to make his airborne attack. His hunters life expectancy on average is 1 minute and 10 seconds.
Foxy's hunters are quick and deadly, needing only on average 36 seconds to attack.
The best hunt to date is Kiba with a single hunter racking up 1124 points.
The average best hunt amongst players is around 551 points.
Drake nom's on the most survivor face. He lands on average 5 pounces a game.

Smoker
5304 survivors got licked and pulled.
Smokers generally get to live long enough to try and taste a survivor for 58 seconds before being killed.
The director charges rent on ravsRavs who holds his smokers for on average 1 minute and 21 seconds.
Fairbank hates the tate of his friends... holding onto his smoker for on average only 36 seconds.
The best smoke to date is Kaz with a single smoker racking up 833 points.
The average best smoke amongst players is around 485 points.
Oz gets the most tounge action, smoking 5.5 survivors a game.

Spitter
11342 survivors have stepped in that spitter shit.
Smokers generally get to live long enough to try and taste a survivor for 1 minute and 3 seconds before being killed.
Kibas suits the skimpy pink g-string. On average she holds a spitter for 1 minute and 38 seconds.
Drakefires and forgets! Lasting the shortest average time of 45 seconds.
The best spit to date is Ravs with a single spitter racking up 1021 points.
The average best spit amongst players is around 489 points.
Ravs makes standing still a dangerous task, 15 people on average a game find out the hard way.

Jockey
4928 Survivors unlocked a new hat.
A survivors ride time for a jockey averages at 49 seconds.
Sekular humps heads the longest... taking his survivors to see the sights for on average 1 minute.
Drake can't hold on for very long. His jockeys have on average 33 seconds before they fall off and die
The best jockey ride to date is Kaz with a single jockey racking up 393 points.
The average best spit amongst players is around 304 points.
Bingo can't just settle down with just one head, taking on average 5.5 for a jog.

Charger
4916 chargers have had good kharma.
A charger goes from stationary to full speed then dead again in an average of 51 seconds.
Foxy's fist is to be most feared... on average 1 minute and 9 seconds of running and pounding.
Bingo can't get enough speed up 31 seconds later on average and the charger is dead
The best charge to date is Fairbank with a single charger racking up 579 points.
The average best charge amongst players is around 364 points.
Oz relocates the most survivors away from thier friends with an average of 5 survivors per match.

TMI

2010-07-13T14:31:21Z

Thinking about a TMI post but its been a damn long time since I used the TMI filter.
So a request

Folks wanting in on my TMI filter please either respond here or PM/DM me

THanks:D

Jobsearching

2010-07-05T02:07:29Z

So today I had an interview for a small family owned warehouse doing picking and packing. The woman I spoke to was very friendly, she explained that the roll was fulltime but very quiet with alot of downtime to just hang out there. The work wasn't very difficult and I would be the only one in the warehouse for most of the time. I honestly had never gotten my hopes up so fast that this could have been a great job.

We talked some about my aspirations, my experiences and all that clutter that associated with interviews. She then took a moment to consult with the owner and then reported back. "We don't feel that this position will be challenging enough for you. You seem like a bright, energetic and outgoing guy who will strive and push for more and we are looking for someone who will settle into the position long term."

I didn't have a response, the surge of hope plummeted under the weight of her words. Managed to embarrassed and dejectedly wind up the call thanking her for her time. I think I am in a bad way when it comes to jobfinding, the countless almost-then-knock-backed takes it toll. Normally I take it in my stride but today it's really just getting to me.

I then slunk to the internet, to do the daily rake of employment opportunities. Tweaked my resume and applied for a whole bunch more. Got an appointment with my jobsearch provider who will ask me a bunch of questions why I don't have work yet... i wish i could use the flakey excuse "I must be too overqualified to employ" that employers are hiding behind recently.

FurDU 2010. Report.

2010-04-29T16:48:58Z

Before the cut I'd like to go on to say a huge thankyou to all those whom came out and supported FurDU on it's maiden voyage. Oz and I greatly apreciate the overwhelming support and help we recieved getting this convention off the ground and the hard work put in by our great friends reflected singificantly in how well the weekend ran. It's one thing to string together a location and event list and slap a fancy name onto it.... anyone can do that! it's something entirely differnt to watch as our extended furry family take those things and make it thier own, breathing life into it. Thankyou everyone for making it such a fantastic weekend!

I prewarn you that this entry is going to be long winded and will cover things from both a attendee and a organiser view. I've tried to include and credit photos to break up the monotony of the text and placed each day behind a cut.

Friday
Friday morning was a early one for us but for most part we were prepared. kibaswiftpaw and mistystriker arrived early to help convoy the army of furs we had staying with us, as well as the boxes and boxes of things we had to bring. The plan was to leave at 9am sharp, Oz would pick up the lighting setup and we would get there to have things set up by lunchtime, giving us time to unwind and relax before rego opened. Luck would have it the people at the lighting place had forgotten we were inbound and hadn't had anything ready for Oz when he arrived which cost us half the day while he sort it out. Arriving around 1pm (an hour before rego was to open) Misty and I remained behind whilst Kiba and Oz took both thier cars back to pick up the conbags, our fursuits, Macroceli, duncanroo, arakaraath and Atpaws' video equiptment. Rather than delaying rego even futher whilst Oz and Kiba battled peak hour traffic on a long weekend friday we opened rego with the promise to distrubute bags later in the night. I assume that everyone was content with this solution as I never heard any complaints and everyone wound up with thier rego and conbags without any issue at all.

For FurDU we decided to print off a limited quantity of various badge-art kindly donated to us by some of our local artists. One by Macroceli and four by MistyStriker. They may wish to post these pics themselves later so I'll provide low res, tiny versions for a quick look :) There were 18 of each printed on a first come first serve basis.

Conbadges by MistyStriker and Macroceli
The convention bag was rather minimalistic, containing a fibre optic lei to suit the beach theme, a bunch of phampletes that advertised local and overseas cons, local restraunt coupons and a conbook serving both a momento of the event aswell as an informative booklette of events, code of conduct ect and suggestions for the "freeday" on saturday. We were fortunate to have received a wide range of local and overseas artists contribute thier time and submitting for the book.

Conbook art by Wookie and Weasely

Friday night quickly approached and people moved from the socializng areas in the foyer to inside the convention room. Oz had arrived in the meantime and was diligently setting up the light and sound system whilst Misty and Kiba set up thier table of glowsticks, glowproducts and tails for people to buy if they missed out of the first 40 regos. kazsjournal manned the DJ desk for the times that I saw and was doing a killer job! The first night really was a blurr to me, whilst I personally sat outside and manned the rego table and was a malicious door nazi who brutally stabbed anyone without a conbage for the times I got away from the door I had the overwhelming feeling that the night was certainly successful with people partying well into the time we had to punt them out for closing. Misty and Kiba certainly had thier night cut out of them, when they were not at thier own table selling glowsticks and party goods they would poke thier head out and give me a hand at the counter giving me a little time to meet some of the many new faces I saw and catch up with friends who had turned up from all corners of australia.

duncanroo manning rego desk and nikita_wolf, atpaw and friends staying to the very end after everyone cleared out. Photos by chrystena and can be found HERE
After the night round up, a very exhausted dragon and roo scurried off to perspective rooms and called it a night.

Video by chrystena

Saturday

To start off I'd like to go onto the record as saying that I had one of the most comfortable nights sleep on the Vibe's beds. Exhausted from the night before I woke up rather rested (and sore) and made my way down to King Tutts Putt Putt. After discussion with the management we managed to talk them down to $10 for the first set of 18 holes and $4 for another after... a huge difference from the quoted $20 per person we got the swarm of furs into groups of 6 and into the game without drama at all. The staff (and in particular the management) at king tutts were exceptional and very friendly people and the courses were rather decently maintained. A nice mixture of fursuiters and non fursuiters alike drew the attention of the handful of kids and adults there and in complete co-incidence there was a single child family who turned up who had dressed thier kid in ears and tail. Their expression was priceless as they stumbled into a crowd of adults all wearing the same. Most groups had enough after 18 holes but a few others stayed on and played through 2 or 3 of thier courses. The weather had gotten rather hot and humid so it detered away alot of the fursuiters from getting in costume but a few brave souls went and suited anyway!

Furs hanging out after a game of "Jurrasic Putt minigolf and iceleron taking a shot whilst others look on. Photos taken by FidgetFox and can be found HERE

With minigolf done and dusted, it left the afternoon for people to do as they wished in surfers paradise. Realistically this gave us time to unwind from the formality of events and also gave people opertunity to do something they would prefer in groups of friends they were comfortable with. Still exhausted from the days before, I took the time to curl up in my room and sleep but I know that alot of people utilised the hotels pool facilities, others went to the extreme sports area and did things like the giant swing and bunggee whilst a huge group went out to get Yumcha at a local restraunt. I am also told that a small group went down to the beach and fursuited with great success and others did some geocaching! I was honestly really paranoid in regards to this time... Knowing there was a wedding happening in the same hotel I was expecting at least one person to do somnething stupid and crash it but was plesantly surpised at how well everyone behaved and left them alone. I am unsure if we will repeat the free time next year, perhaps filling the staurday with more on-location events but for all purpose the saturday day freetime seemed to go down well.

broc_dresdroth, liontemba, leilahlove, iceleron, night and (I dont remember sorry!) enjoying the pool on a hot afternoon. Photo by chrystena can be found HERE

A small group of us defected to the Pancakes on Paradise for a ~~healthy~~ delicious dinner. Throughout the weekend furs had been going there for dinners and they were quite curious as to what we were about. A brief explination at the door followed before we were joined by some more furs including milesway, leilahlove, chrystena and nikita_wolf. Having to eat and run we left them sporting the massive bill and made our way to Timezone for the final event that evening.

I think it was the first time I actually felt sick in the stomach with nerves as at 7pm, the scheduled time we had only 2 people at the meeting point. Worried that either people were over the weekend already and done other stuff or that I wasnt clear enough with the meeting location I paced a bit between the only two entrances in the place. It turns out that everyone was operating under furtime and half an hour later we went from 2 to 60 odd furs outside the doors of the place. Timezone quickly hide us away in the party area/balcony as we waited for the final few stragglers to show up then dedicated a staff member to get through all our usercards and get us underway. It was rather surreal, the first two hours in the huge arcade flew by... every where you looked there were people you knew and alot of the multiplayer games got a work out that night. Deal or no deal would prove to be the crowd favorite with folks crowding around the machines for a chance at the 200/400 ticket prizes. I believe that twigmouse and aussiehusky were the heroes of the day robbing the bank of it's 400ticket prize.
The last hour was hectic. Getting 60 furs through a 15 minute game of lasertag and bumpercars was going to be pushing it to the very end. The size of the group made us split into two full games. The maze wasn't designed for that many folks and felt very crowded and busy with every corner harbouring someone to shoot. The game itself went for 15minutes which was a nice change. Bumpercars were also awesome! 20 fur-filled cars on a one way track and a whole lot of agressive driving topped the night off well before we all headed back.

Blizt and iceleron say no deal whilst milesway is about to get a friendly rear-end from arakaraath Photos again by Fidgitfox

For most, Saturday ended there.... others decided to have a balcony party and after everyone made thier way back to the rooms. I poked my head in for a short time after a noise complaint from the hotel staff needed to be addressed. After I went for a walk to McDonalds with liontemba.

Twi, foxoffire and harleywolf enjoying a drink whilst milesway and liontemba rest after a big day. Photos taken by Night and can be found HERE

</b>
Sunday.

Got up early to get down to the convention room early to assist the dealers to set up thier tables and to ensure that joeyfox was alright with setting up the games room/area for the various tournaments. The fear that we would have no-one setting up thier stuff in the dealers area was quickly vanquished as chrystena sold various plushies, mistystriker opened up for commisions and sketches, kibaswiftpaw had her fur tails and shineys for sale and goldfur opened a table for his written works.

Various shots of dealertables taken by Night.

I have to admit I was suprised at the turnout for the computer game tournaments with alot of furs comming along to watch and support thier friends. The games were pretty intense and saw alot of great players pitted against eachother early on. The guitar hero tournament was even more intense with kazsjournal, joeyfox or Kidsune tipped to take finals. The competition did not dissapoint, the guitar hero being award to Kidsune after a convincing win over Kaz in the final through the fire and the flames. Prior to Guitar hero was the smash tourney. Of noteworthy mention was in the smash brothers tourney had a unstart by the name of Close. She entered the tournament on the day and won her way all the way to the final. The smashbrothers tournament ranked Hattie as winner, followed by Close then Joey in third. The final is below.

Smash brothers tournament filmed by GPRO Karu.

At this point I'd like to thank Smokey the Malamute, Sekular and Koneko for thier diligent assistance in packing down an entire room and then setting up in mere minutes whilst we prepared for the fur-games. It was greatly apreciated and helped us keep together on the tight schedule. The furgames proved to be my biggest fear of failure. The goal was to create a almost "variety show" where the audience was the participants in a series of silly party games and fun. I have faith that JetDingo who filmed the lot will be able to recreate the show better than I can type it but here goes...

Splitting the attendees (roughly 18 people) into 3 groups we started the fun by getting them to create team names. With Duncanroo being (in suit) the leader of one team with aussiehusky as his consort there was no suprise the team was named "team Macro." But 'Team Macro' had thier work cut out for them having to come face to face with "Team 'I don't give a ****'" and the final and racially aware team considering of Kaz... "Team Ivorys and Ebony" To put it lightly, I was nervous as hell... being presenter and runner of the games I fumbled my way through explinations and various game types that people will be able to see on the video when it surfaces. I can only pray and assume it was somewhat entertaining because the initial 15 turned into 3 teams of about a dozen each by the end.. alot of watchers getting involved in the fun. Special thanks again to everyone who helped set up each game and pack down after each.

Various fuzzies playing a minigame with suiters as arms and AussieHusky + Night guessing who thier fur-celeb head is. Photos by FoxyMalone.

Throughout the games and rest of the day we were very lucky to have the photographic skills of atpaw who donated his equipment and time to do professional photos of suiters and non suiters alike. A very big thankyou to him was doubly needed as he skipped fursuiting in alot of events just to do this! These photos can be found HERE but to chew through your bandwidth I put a few below.

marko_the_rat, ristin and Ziggy strike a pose whilst Tristan(nikita_wolf) and Husky have a rest.

It was this point that we recieved our first dissapointment. The hotel had made it clear that they did not wish us to have us in the foyer in fursuit which prohibited us from taking the fursuit parade outside. This is something I really wanted to do as to get a tiny bit of public exposure but we made do. Shortening the fursuit parade to the level we were on/area we were allowd we wound up on the deck outside and took group shots. Forgive the unsized photos here because we really need them fullsize for this.

Top row: Mao, Warrigal, Huski, Ziggy, OzKangaroo, Duncan, Ristin, Trevorfox, Marcwolf, Tinkerbelle,Rogue
Bottom Row: Tristan, unknown, FlameDrake, Nikita, Marko

Incomplete group shot. I'll be fucked if I name everyone of them ;P

The night and entire convention finished up with the dead dog dance. Alot of folks at this stage had left and there was a general solem mood that the weekend was comming to a finish. This event we really hadnt planned more than 20 or so people to attend so did not have a DJ on booth but instead was playing a Mix that bigbluefox put together for us. Without an open bar, people went from room to conroom at differnt stages of drunk and for most part it seemed like everyone was ready to rock on well into the night. The hotel staff were quick to extinquish that idea as at midnight on the dot they came in and shipped us out... the lack of numbers did nothing to the massive energy and fun that I got to experience between falling asleep on Duncans bed and helping clean up. Atpaw continued to take photos well into the night. They can be found HERE

I feel exhausted even reflecting back on the weekend. It was seriously a really great time and one surely wont forget meeting some great new friends, catching up with old friends who I fell out of contact with and of course spending time with my little furry family away from home. For those after numbers our rego count just missed 90 with 87 people attending the convention at some point. There was a tiny bit of drama to deal with, someone was caught sleeping in the carpark, someone was exposing themselves from a balcony and a single noise complaint but for most part everyone was perfectly behaved and made me feel proud to be a furry. The hotel itself was fantastic though the weekend staff seemed somewhat complacent with thier jobs and lacked the high quality customer service we had recieved from the managers/organisers... which made our decision to host elsewhere next year alittle eaiser if not for the sheer size/turnout.
I have to admit I was honestly glad that MIDFUR drama did not surface at all during the convention and I truely hope that when we return next year we do not have to face the same resistance that we did this year.

All in all I am proud and honoured to be apart of FurDU that was made a success purely by the fantastic support of the people who attended it. Thankyou all for making FurDU what it was and I can't wait to show you what we can do in 2011.

-Drake.

Psych-out.

2010-04-06T19:50:36Z

So... I'm temporarily employed.
I realise this is a very lazy, self centered post and I am most certainly not proud of myself for thinking the thoughts that are keeping me up all night.

I don't want to do this.

The temp agency called me yesterday after another one of thier clients highly recommended me for future work. They had a position available from a very tough client who is very aggressive and churns through staff like it's no-ones business. The employeer has had it with the temp agent for sending staff he deems unsuitable for work... and after a long phonecall with the temp agent she convinced him to give them one last try.
That one last try is me.
The agent told me "I really can't stress how important it is you don't make any mistakes or get on his bad side because part of the deal of them taking you was that if you were no good.. I personally would have to come out and do the job. Acting purely on instinct and catering to my deire to feel wanted/depended on I took the roll that was to last till friday next week with the chance of days off in between depending on the workload they have.

After I got off the phone and started to think about it... I started to psych myself out.

I know that I make simple mistakes, my mind races ahead of me at times and I am very results driven and competitive to do everything better than everyone else... in the past this has been an issue as I make minor detail mistakes. This in mind lead me to think about the weight of responsibility on me here... If I screw up, I'll cost these guys a long term client which will in turn cost me any future work with the agentcy (they have a policy not to re-employ anyone who costs them work). I don't handle aggression in the workplace very well at this current time don't feel I can emotionally handle yelling or being treated poorly and it will end up making me more likely to fuck up.

To add insult to injury.
The 7 (potentially not full shift) days of employement will rake me in about $600 after tax at best... $40 more than what I would get from the government for NOT WORKING that two weeks. If I lose even one day of those 7 days (which agent warned me will happen if there isnt much work) then I will be losing money for doing the job. Oh I also wont be paid till the end of the job which means I wont have any cash till right before furdu.

Ontop of that. not being around for the week leaves Oz (and thankfully Kiba/foxy for offering to help out) with 40 tails, 60 conbooks and 60 conbags to make, aswell as all the final preperations for furdu... which is totally unfair on him considering it's 3 weeks till launch.

...
I've really convinced myself against and stressed out of this job before I've even started it -..-

Wish me luck today guys.

let me be the first....

2010-04-04T06:00:12Z

To do a fursuit fracas plea for votes!

On the 28th of april the world will turn to you to ensure justice will be done.
That's right... people of livejournal land we need your votes to eliminate DarkenTiger's Byakko from The FFFF in round 1.

Darktiger vs. Byakko

As it comes closer to the time I will campaign further but for now I would like to show you pictures of the suits competeing pair.

update: The image was reported for violation. I unfairly speculate that DarkenTiger was behind it.
FACEST BYAKKO VS

SAINT DARKTIGER

Vote wisely.. Byakko supports terrorism, hatecrimes and was involved directly with 9-11. A vote for Byakko is a surefire ticket to unredeemable hell.

On 28th of April ensure your vote counts for good. Vote DarkTiger.

Look at cut first and then vote :D

2010-03-17T19:46:21Z

View Poll: #1539353

So it's FFFF time again, for those following at home it's a epeen competition where folks submit thier fursuit or the fursuit of the guy they want to fuck the most to be judged by the worlds eye like some twisted meatmarket. I dont have anything agianst FFFF outside of the trampling annoyance of people begging to be nominated/voted for. I had never even heard of this until last year when I specifically signed up to vote against all my friends (and darkentiger) who whored every known resource (twitter/facebook/livejournal) for guilt people to vote for them every fucking week like thier entire validity as a fursuiter depended on it.

Well with nominations for the real event already well underway and people dropping hints left right in center as not to be as so lame as to nominate yourself I figured I would get the upperhand and release the first round of contestants!

1. kaji_ryuujin vs Kim Jon Ill and/in a gimpsuit
VS

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2. duncanroo vs a Cheese grater to the face
VS

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3. darkentiger vs other latin vixin suit.
VS

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4. ozkangaroo in Duke vs Gangreen infection
VS

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5. atpaw vs Listening to a Black Eyed Pea song all the way through
VS

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6. b_dingo vs 1 million in solid gold
VS

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7. chrystena vs Hitler
VS

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8. nikita_wolf vs nikita_wolf
VS

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Voting closes the moment the person I want to win has most votes.
Winner recieves the glory of being the first person to win FlameDrake's Fursuit challenge which in itself is reward enough
Best of luck and happy voting!

Drake review. Alice in wonderland.

2010-03-14T20:00:28Z

[b]Alice in Wonderland 2010.[/b]

When Oz said this week that he wanted to see Alice in Wonderland I have to admit I was very apathetic towards the idea but none the less oz atpaw and myself wound up at the cinemas to see it. I have to admit my expectations were very, very low having witnessed first hand via twitter and reviews the wave of angry movie-goers projectile vomiting rage about how shit of a movie it was. I left the movie feeling like a fair few people wrote it off misinterpreting intentional grayed story turns for script failures.

I will risk insulting my audience and say one thing that pet peeves me and that is people who BITCH ABOUT REMAKES. Seriously, if you go to see a remake expecting it to be the same and benchmarking your experience against the direction/story of book/movie that game before... save yourself the fucking money and go watch the old one or read the old book. To be enjoyed a remake has to be apprectiated as "this movie is using elements/ideas from X story which I really enjoyed.. I am going to see how DIRECTOR envisions or adapts to it." Anyone who goes into a movie wanting thge story and everything to be the same as the old one is going to get nothing but dissapoint.

But back to my movie...

Personally I felt the acting was spectacular, the characters felt real even through the CG world which was a work of art. I fell in love with a select few of the characters.. especially the red queen who just made the movie for me with fantastic acting and character-writing. I was however, somewhat a little dissapointed with Johnny Depp's inability to make the mad hatter his own, whom was believable and definately insane. The character was confusing and the slightly overly complicated dialogue only added to lack of Depp's unsual inability to bring the bizzare character to life and in the end it came off as forced/unpolished. Anne Hathaways appearance surprised me and apparently expended all her acting tallent prior to taking on this roll. She was flat and her acting lacked any form of animation or expression, I found myself unsure if I disliked her because of her character or because of her B rate performance.

The story borrows from both books (alice in wonderland and the looking glass) and Tim Burton certainly found a way to make his characters blur away from the lines of good and evil. I left the movie cinema will a slight feeling of uncertainty if the right people won, and a inner conflict between GOOD VS BAD and Justice. Personally I loved the movie, they changed enough to give a new breath of air to a old story. It honors the core element of this insane confusing world and shines new light onto characters that before had about as deep as a childs wading pool. The movie blew me away with what I can confidently say that was a fresh new look at a old tale and highly enjoyable movie. Avoiding the risk of appearing pretentious or self important in "rating" a movie I will finish up by saying that if you gave me 10 err... objects and asked me to give back based on the level of enjoyment I would give you back 3.

Ah fuck it, I want a ranking system.

I give it 7 noms out of 10. I should put together a image or something cute like that.

Discuss.

FurDU!

2010-03-09T16:54:21Z

Shameless plugs!!
The FURDU WEBSITE IS HERE
.... and...
VIEW AND BUY THE FURDU SHIRT HERE
or for overseas and non con-goers HERE

A few years back, chrystena, nikita_wolf and myself missed out on our first midfur because of timing and (at least for me) financial reasons moving into a new place... As dissapointed as we were, we sat down and toyed with the idea of doing something later the next year.. just once everything had settled down so that we would still be able to get together with our friends. Was then at that Rivfur was created. At first, there was a hell of alot of resistance... Alot of the older/jaded locals said it couldn't be done and we even copped drama from people claiming that we were competing against MIDFUR and the young FurJAM! The drama followed that half year but with the support of friends like mistystriker and b_dingo it went ahead anyway... and the rest was history.

I expected nothing less of the same resistance when Oz announced FurDU to the world at the beginning of this year. Especially considering the rocky relationship between oz and the midfur committee re: a dissagreement of practice from a few years ago. It's amusing to recieve whispers and gossip about what some of the MIDFUR committee members have aparently or rumoured to have said about FURDU. Most of which I laugh at and shake my head at in disbelief and I apreciate at least the face value of support that they have extended. I've heard it called Spitecon (just in general) and I laughed at the hipocritical naming that people have fondly given it... we actively call it that here too now in honour. At yet, despite what teh drama trolls and gossip mongers try there hasnt been any widespread drama. Next month, FurDU starts on it's maiden voyage and with the weekend planned is bound to be a success, Oz will get to finally put the convention he wanted to since 2008 and with the some amazing support from folks up in brisbane will make it a weekend to remember.

Between now and then we are currently working on a event calendar that will be up by friday and the t-shirt's have gone live for both Convention go-ers and people who can't make it or are overseas. For bigger folks we are currently in discussion with the shirt people to have a differnt style of shirt printed. We are currently seeking art/story submissions for the conbook... as well as advertising australian furry business's and other meets (rivfur, furjam, midfur).. going to be poking folks for permission soon... the light show we organised is only going to compliment the awesome DJ'ing job and setup from Kaz... thanks to Joey, the comp game tournament is under preperation and things are going smoothly!

44 days and counting! Looking foward to seeing people there.

Work

2009-12-23T01:41:14Z

After 2 and a half hours of interviews and performance tests I got the job.
Starting tommorow, $24 an hour with raises every 6 months depending on performance.
36 hour weeks, opertunity for 2 hours overtime daily (again depending on performance)
*grin*

That's all.

facepalms

2009-12-03T15:34:26Z

Tiny bit flustered about the over complication of plans and the lack of receptiveness to advice to simplicate them. The reason all the other ones that have fallen apart is because they were too complicated and relying/imposing on others.

Feeling frustrated and helpless. A little homesick and missing duncan, macroceli and the bunch of awesome people I met at MFF. Most The furs here are all standoffish, I'm unsure if it's because of past/current interactions with oz or they just are unwelcoming and lacking friendliness (that's not to say I haven't met some damn awesome people like wild and tilt).

heading out to disney; Will write a better review later.

Tommorow/miami trip is going to be hell.

Respite before the holiday?

2009-11-08T01:57:19Z

I've used my last lazyday today. From here on there is no stopping for WoW or for meandering mindlessly in games or movies/tv.

Today the 6 suit that have sat in loungeroom get bagged, tagged and sent far away. I admit, after all the pain these have caused; Part of me wanted to get ~~AIDS~~ A cold or something and bleed out into them in the hope that whomever opened them would recieve the same torment that it cost us to make them.

That being said, I dont want to be sick before the big trip.

The next two days are going to be preciously spent building the last remaining suit and restoring Tzup's house to a recongisable state. Wednesday morning we plan to pack into Oz's Failcruiser and embark on a 3 day roadtrip; spending a day in sydney for touristy things and to hide the body of whichever one of us was lynched during the drive from melbourne.

Arriving in brisbane on Friday we have 2 days to cram in the few things left to do in brisbane, namely an adventure to the gold coast and either movieworld or Dreamworld. Next Monday we are america bound... starting the adventure of a lifetime across America.

Amusingly as per all time/space travel we arrive in america around the same time as we left. LAX will induce fond memories of the last time I was there. By myself being rolled by every bible bashing preacher and charity. Luckily I will have Oz with me this time as to use his honed skills in anti-polite and tactlessness to ward off these evils. Writing this I realise how unplanned we actually are.
Arriving in LA we will then go to a hotel that does the hollywood tours. As trashy as it sounds I actually am looking foward to seeing the sight sof hollywood. Tuesday is dedicated to said adventure. Wednesday there is a tenative plan to obtain transportation and spend a day/night in vegas. Vegas would be fucking awesome. Before I leave I will have to surrender my wallet to my roo as not to spend all my holiday money on gambling but I am sure I will cope. Depending on the planning and situation; We may convince Jasufox and Happwulf to join us for the expedition.
Thursday we fly out to MFF!

The rest of the holiday goes from there and will be written when I can be damned :P

-Drake

Pyscho bitch >..>

2009-10-23T20:48:26Z

Forgive lack of update yesterday as the time I sat down to write one my mood was affected by the story below and I couldn't pull the creativity or motivation to write. I shall have yesterday misadventure covered as well as todays by tonight. For now enjoy the run of employment fun.

Recently there was a job position opened up in a friend of mine employment. Naturally as reffered by a friend I handed my resume in for submission and received a call from the manager/owner to further detail the position. At first I was somewhat skeptical because the fantastic position that it was made out to be was being told very differntly by the woman I got on the other end. She really had little to no experience in recruitment and told me she wouldnt hold the position for me while I was in transition between Brisbane and Melbourne. She was then pressuring my friend to reveal information about when i was comming up. To my face she wasnt interested in me; to my friend she was demanding me to hurry up and get up there to train. The only time when she made sense or really had a clue was when she was passing messages through my friend; who I assume was either translating her intention or was not too sure himself.

This should have rose warning bells that someone was misfeeding me information. I tried to contact her multiple times and each time I either never was picked up, or was told that she had left for the day or didnt come in. When I didn't arrive in brisbane as quickly as I hoped I expected that would have been the end of it but aparently she didnt fill the spot and went on holidays.

Resuming contact with me about a month later she asked if I wanted an interview on Wednesday to which I happily took on. I discussed the role a little more and found she was desperate for someone to start. More talking with my friend we decided that whilst the position while still vacant; I was best suited not to the role because they wouldnt want someone to start then go on 6 weeks holiday to america. Feeling that I was doing the right thing, I called up to cancel the interview. No answer. The next morning (the day of the interview) I called again and again no-one picked up the phone. Frustrated, I didn't show up to the interview as not to further waste her time or mine.

Aparently this boss has now blown a gasket and has stapled my resume around thier office with "FULL OF SHIT. DID NOT SHOW" and is hammering into my friend for my lack of attendance. There has been a few happy messages left on my phone (which wasn't switched on) and my friend is pissed off at me for inflicting this onto him.

In the long run I'm glad I didn't get the job there with a boss like that. I feel terrible that my friend was put through it but at the same time selfishly feel improperly painted the villian for not showing. Half my mind wants to pick up the next call I get from her and give her a bit of my mind; threaten legal action and call her on quite possibly the biggest lack of professionalism since fursuit makers.

Grumpy dragon signing off

Day 2: Greenroo Bane

2009-10-23T03:04:29Z

The story so far...
Day 1: Dino Arrives.

Todays update...

Starting off from yesterdays adventure, After factually documenting the day's events we had a few hours rest to recover. After a quick chicken dinner we were joined by the comedic duo sir Iceleron and Koneko. You know you are in perfect company when a conversation starts "I know this is going to sound like a pedophile but...." Other intelligent points of topic was flaming the autistic, Pooing in pools/baths (and aparently printing it on t-shirts) and of course furry drama and politics. An epically tired Dino and Dragon later collapsed into perspective beds, Macroceli spending 15 minutes trying to find his under the mass of pillows and decorations my mum INSISTED to be put on the bed to "welcome" him. That night it seemed it was oz's turn to keep me awake well into the night with a (welcomed) phonecall to talk about the day and how long it would take before Macroceli's body would decompose in a shallow grave of lime.

Today we woke a little later than anticipated. The fact Macroceli woke with no recollection of the terrible things I did to him while he slept shows that my idea of giving someone double dose of rohypnol (regardless to risk of brain damage); keeps sexual assault charges at a all time low. Giving Macroceli a few crayons and a dot to dot page to do something whilst on the bus we headed out to Lone Pine Wildlife reserve.

Arriving at lonepine I quickly had an idea which would bring me to a segment within this journal based solely on the plans to destroy a macro roo. I know there are many of you out there that are with me in my epic plight to bring down the giant green roo but alas FA does not have the space to document such an extensive catalog so we will just stick with the zoo animals. (Also note: what we did and in order actually is reflective in this piece)
Animals which will help me defeat Duncanroo
Dinosaurs: More research required.
The pre-forged friendship between Macro Rex 'n' Roo has been hard to destroy. Subtle comments and mind control tactics have fallen to waste as the Rex has neither subtly or a mind. However his insight into the intricate existence I have gotten from Mac has been quite helpful. I am still skeptical of his allegiance as the only way I have been able to administer his loyalty and devotion is through a tyrant's fist. Ever seen a 1 foot dragon keep control of a dinosaur? It's no easy achievement but by no means out of my reach.
Koalas: Poor
After arriving at the park; we went directly to the Koala exhibit because there was a demostration about them. Macroceli and I learnt valuable information about how vicious Koalas really were.. After one shredded the intestines clean out of the presenter I decided this would be a fantastic addition to the rising army of Duncan-hate and after the show I sent macroceli to have a photo taken with such a fierce creature.. to prove his bravery. Sadly it seems that Koala's are insubordinate and despite my orders for the Koala to piss all over Macroceli's front... he did not obey.

Other Kangroos: Average
After the bloodbath that was the Koala experience we decided to get into the mindset of our adversary. Taking a peace-offering of bags of food we went to the Kangaroo Enclosure to feed them and find out inside information from the roo's kin. It seems that Macroceli's disease of roo-affinity is deeper than I had first thought. I took many photos of the roo's accepting the blackmail/food to use as future evidence if Macroceli decides to betray me and runs back to the evil green vile macro. Hours passed and still the Kangaroos had no helpful knowledge but may be used as a valuable mercenary in the final battle. Oh the pain it must bring knowing that your own kin will destroy you for the cost of a bag of food.

Scrub Turkeys: Great
Scrub turkeys proved to be quite the asset. After many bribes were handed to the roos we decided to have some lunch of our own. At the eatery we watched as the scrub turkey revealed it's gift of self divide and multiply. Before our eyes after eating only 1 hot chip a single Scrub turkey had become 10. Fearing what overpopulation would occour if we fed them anymore than one we quickly ate our food as the horde of Scrubturkey watched our every move. After taking our fill we fed them more; the numbers grew and after a long winded recruitment speach they devoted their lives and numbers to our cause.

Rainbow Lorrikeets (birds): Fail
The final attempt of recruiting was at the Wild bird feed. Requiring an ally with the gift of flight would prove useful in the battle against something as large as Duncan. Continuing the theme of bribing with food we fed the Rainbow lorrikeets who came and left as they pleased. For a while I was excited to see that the birds adhered to the commands to throw their seed at Macroceli but they came and went as they pleased and seemed to be more concerned with the oriental-folk. Still a few more evidence shots were taken then we headed to the gates to leave.

The trip home was uneventful. In tradition of all long distance transportation I fell asleep within a few moments, dreaming of schemes and twisted ploys. Overcrowded and late bus' make for a long ride home; we arrived home to quickly check Furaffinity and twitter before we were abducted into the night.

The nights plans were rather solvent, FoxyMalone, Nikita, Iceleron, Koneko, myself and Mac went to the local sporting club and bingo hall for a dinner out. I was suprised I still had my old member card there and with a quick renew we waded past the wheelchairs and walking frames in the sea of mindless elderly. That was everyone EXCEPT for Ice as the bear was taking advantage of the "Free" handwash santaiser. Aparently having disinfected hands is only rewarding when it is on a stand beside a bunch of poker-machines. Failing in his attempts to recruit others to foolishly fawn over the sanatizer he joined us on the quest to clamber through the elderly. Picking a few of the weak ones off we got to the bistro to be tormented by the counter clerk. Behind the glass was a cube of crisp; crackling pork that made everyone's mouth water, upon requesting it we were advised that for utmost no reason that meal was unavailable. That was of course everyone except Iceleron who had found ANOTHER hand sanatizer unit and was merrily killing off all the germs that would have infected his hands between walking a few feet from the previous one.

For most part the dinner was fantastic, the usual bantering and talking about oz and his antics followed. We got some crazy old couple giving us the death-glare because we were talking and laughing (at a respectful level) but nothing nearly as embarassing as being seen in public with Koneko. Desert arrived for those who wanted it and Koneko decided that his was better spent spat across the table and onto me. After I obtained my sight back we quickly gathered our stuff and left save any other outburst of food fight where the elderly there may have been disrupted from a game of bingo or blowing thier pension on the pokies.

Tommorrow's chronicles will not be as eventful as it is a dedicated day of rest. Though I suspect I may continue to work on corrupting Macroceli more :)

Not Quite Dead...
Drake

Macroceli's Visit. Day 1.

2009-10-23T03:01:38Z

For those who don't follow me on FA you get a DELAYED BROADCAST! D:

See what happens when you deprive a dragon of Internet and WoW!!

Despite Duncan's attempts to sabotage my sleep schedule, we managed to get up at a reasonable time to pick up Mac from the airport. Even though BlimpWolf had given me a picture to ID the lost Dino at the airport I promptly lost it and could not remember what he looked like. The cunning plan of holding out a sign with his name on it failing just as badly as I left it at home in the rush to the car. Being the ever cautious one, Mum's real concern being not that of Macroceli's integrity or values but instead the only question raised was "He's not Black, is he?"
Luckily, there are very few wandering dinosaurs at brisbane airport and I was able to identify the rex and abduct him into the back of the wagon with promises of candy and a bike. Fortunately, he had passed the criteria of my racist mum and was allowed a lift home.

Getting home, we bummed around for a short time before planning out the adventure for the day. Under strict instructions from my Roo not to do anything that he may consider fun without him; we decided to head into the city and do the utmost non-fun thing we could think of... explore touristy things and fend of the occasional basilisk invasion.

We started off with a walk through southbank, ensuring to stop and take a hell of a lot of pictures of the children at the beach. After filling our quota of restraining orders, we continued on through the rainforest walk thing, across the riverfront for more pictures then to the citycat to take photos from other harder to reach angles. Traveling most of the brisbane river we got off at newfarm park; where I got us incredibly lost for several days; the things we did to survive shall never be spoken and the bond a dragon and a dino forges when faced against a malicious foe (see:Duncanroo) will last eternitity

Returning world weary we set sail again via city-cat (fast moving ferry) and headed to the second most non-fun place in existence... a museum! I admit this was a pre-empted move on my behalf as I wanted to get a picture of Mac in front of the giant T-Rex display there. We arrived to see the great green creature in it's habitat just as it would have been in the wild: Children climbing over the pidgeon-poo covered monster we waited till died of heat exhaustion before getting some good shots. (The next part was completely freaky and not made up at all o..o ) As we left, the teacher who was neglecting their duties of controlling the little shits yelled out. "Alright guys, time for Muffins" This of course was too good a event to just fall into my lap so I spent a few hours exploiting it; every chance I get to talk about rex's and muffins.

In a crewl twist of fate spat out only by the most unjust god; we headed over to the art gallery to farm some culture experience and hopefully be able to learn the ability to lift our nose and sip tea with an extended pinky. Instead I cross-classed creepy and found a completely dark room with an extended couch and dubbed it the rape room. I was rather concerned that after returning from the toilet Macroceli was in said room with a bunch of children and a small goat. Having a full fix of culture we went outside to do more exploring.

Little did Macroceli know that lurking in it's festering lair of the sky; the sun was planning his timely demise!! Within hours the sun was already was burning off layers of skin/bird poo from the rex's blue hide. We retreated into the city heart to hide behind the concrete jungle. Lots of browsing and walking followed, going into the casino to try and double his spending money wasn't the best idea and the rest of the afternoon was spent busking for money/grabbing a pie and going home.

Which brings us up to date with the adventure today :)
I hope the creativit... err actual events continues to come my way for me to document.. but I am fearful after reading this I may be smothered to death with a pillow by the Rex.

R.I.P.
Drake

The stumble before the stride.

2009-10-02T18:39:52Z

I wish I could say that I will update this more; It's funny that the driving passion behind my entry tonight is not of the love to write or the wish to share the recent happenings but infact it's the utmost restless of a dragon who can not sleep. This would be take 47 of the intent to post, if it never makes it to your browser then be assured it would have been a hell of an entry like the many before that never got aired.

For your quickness, I noted some of the happenings in the dragons life down here... under the cut there is a serious entry full of me rambling non-sense and being very self centered.. everyone should ignore it!

It's over a year and a half since I packed my bags and moved to Melbourne, it certainly doesn't feel like it at all. In reflection now I left Brisbane rather recklessly in the persuit to find myself... I feel ready to share the story with you all now. Though I understand there may no longer be very much left an audience here who really would care to read, and putting it out there may make people think less of me (especially if you don't know me in real life) but it's a closed chapter in this dragons life... for a journal it's rather important to document.

Last year I fled, I responsibly tied up my affairs with work and left everything behind to move to melbourne. Why? Because I hated who I was; the reliable half-friend/employee who would do anything to feel needed by others... valuing friendship in the level of dependance not quality. I became known, not loved. I spent more nights healing people who I barely even knew than spent time with the people I actually considered close friends. The more folks needed me, the more I felt needed and in turn the more I would give... and give... and give to the point where it would burn me out because they would come to expect it from me. I'd then get upset that they were taking so much when (I realise now that) it was my fault for feeding thier want. And so with the intent on dropping from the face of the earth I stod away, with the dream of starting anew in a place where I wasn't known; where I had nothing to give.

At first I got the response I had expected, people were angry at me for thier own reasons. My close friends tried to understand, make sense of my motives. It was easier to lie and direct my reasoning onto a job opertunity that had arrisen (which had sealed the deal for the move) then it was to tell them the truith I was slowly tearing myself apart inside. But for most part those not close were more concerned about who would provide the emotional punching bag or shoulder. I even had a number of folks ask who would give them free laserforce anymore or lend them money when they had none. Their anger gave me self validation that I was doing the right thing in leaving; helped me cope with the biggest most selfish thing I'd ever done.

It is strange how addictive being wanted and liked is. It was terribly hard to supress the desire and fall back into old habbits. But from the moment I steped off the plane and was greeted by two new friends (and housemates) byftpup (either has deleted me from LJ or his account entirely) and ozkangaroo, I knew I was in safe hands. Without going into boring detail, they thanklessly helped me through the seperation anxiety and helped me stick to finding where I wanted to be in life. I admit there was times I was weak and wanted to be a part of it all again; to stand up and be counted in the Melbourne furry scene It was very fortunate the melbourne scene was not was I was looking for in a social circle and too spread out for any real connection. And the learning began...

I'm learning what real friendship was. The unconditional bond between two people that could never be baught or earnt. That real friendships do not require consistant survileance of your actions and thier reactions in a desperate attempt at acceptance. It can be found anywhere and in anyone and you can not discover it until it already has taken you. It was that discovery that changed everything, the realization that I already had real friends and I had instead squandered my life trying to being liked by all rather than being loved by some. I know this is a life long battle within my insecure self, I still slip and fall into old habbits at times; but for most part I am becomming self confident and apreciating the people I have in my life. I've made some fantastic ones over this past year aswell as significantly increased the apreciated ones I already have. I do my best to detatch from people who are lost cases, who have nothing but negativity in thier life through thier own creation, I can no longer sacrafice my happiness and time trying to heal them with optimism nor maintain friendships where there is nothing connecting us but negativity and guidance.

I'm still weak, I'm learning to accept that at times I will need to open up and trust that my friends while not think less of me for being down. I have a character flaw of needing assurance that I am liked by those I admire and look up to. I like to know that I am special to people, I matter and not just another name to know. I expect in a friendship what I give to one. I don't know if that is a bad or a good thing. I know when I start to feel like just another name to someone, I unconciously start to distance myself from them... that's how most of my friendships and relationships fade, I don't know how to fix it. It's cost me quite a few of them. That's part of the secret to my fetish in vore too...keep me diluded that I'm the only one, that you dont have a dozen preys lined up. Magic's lost once I know your a slut and it doesnt mean the same as it does to me... jealousy of the unknown settles in and I go my seperate way. I know it is vain and that it makes me a selfish and bad person to be friends with.

..... I'm working on being a better person.

Stearing away from the magnafying glass we come back to where we started; the move. So it comes to pass that on tuesday I head back up to brisbane. It's with mixed emotions that I look foward to and at the same time completely dread the return. I can't wait to be back up there with the friends and family I love, with the different communitys (lasers, volleyball, furry) and most importantly of all being able to share them with Oz, the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with. At the same time, I worry that the awesome real friendships that I had up there have weathered and decayed over the time I was away. The people I have in my head and heart may no longer feel the same way about me or that I will slide back into the same repeating slump I ran from. I worry I'll just turn back into the old drake with the old problems or will over commit again and find myself distanced from the very close friends I've made online.

I worry too much >..<

The Real Update!

* Did a whole lot of work for a promo company with oz, feeling alot more confident with my abilities as a customer service officer/provider. Guitar hero 3 promotion where we were advertising GH5 by playing GH3 and giving away copys of GH4... confused? so was everyone else!

* Got quite the busy few months ahead of us, whilst oz remains down here finishing off the suits he has left I'll be flying up to queensland to prepare everything for our migrate. Depending the result I either arrive tuesday or tuesday week but I will be sure to catch up with folks before I leave so relax. In alittle over two weeks; macroceli is visiting from the states and will be staying with us until the 14th where we depart for america for our holiday. Looking to put together a weekend up at noosa for him while we he is there and also theme park visits/zoo visits touristy things; if you are interested in comming along, stay tuned!

* America in novemember.. getting to see snow, going to be great! Lazily stolen itenary from oz:
"This is a ruff guideline. We still need to confirm places to stay, dates moving around.

November
16th Arrive in LA at 7am and do some tourist stuff. (Hollywood etc) Also, if there are any furs in LA, let me know.
17th or 18th - Travel to San Fran to hang and stay with Duncan.
19th - Travel to MFF!!!! Rooming with Tilt and Foxwell. This will be our first MFF.
23rd - Either hang in Chicago (If someone wants to put us up for a day or too)
23rd - OR Fly to Orlando
24th - 4th Dec - Is pretty open, but we will be doing All the theme parks in Orlando as possible, Disney World, Universal Studios and Bush Gardens. If anyone wants to come along, please give me a buzz.
December
5th - 10th - Furry Cruise!!! First time on a cruise and I heard this is amazing. Only really know two furs that are going. But regardless, i'm sure me and Drake will have a great time together.
11th Fly out of Orlando to LA, to catch a flight home to Brisbane.
"
Nervous because I won't know many folks and dont want to tag on with duncanroo or ozkangaroo (no one likes a hanger-on) too much. Either way is going to be a really good holiday and then come home to christmas and extensive jobfinding/working.

* Love my rootard very much, need to tell him more often how much he means to me!!

* Back in WoW, transfered to bloodhoof in the furry guild and have made a really close and great friend wolfjester. Spend most my 'limited' spare time in WoW or DDO hanging out with him and very greatful for his company whilst oz works on suits. Also made a bunch of awesome friends in WoW; Honest, Kaji, Tannyk... some really great folks who are fun to be around :) <3 Tannyk especially; it's good to find some good friends on my own steam

* Looking at commisioning a peice of art in my mind at the moment.. going to be vore. On the note of vore, I need to get eaten more! Male preds kgo!

3 and a half hours later, the post is done.. half of what I wanted it to be but here it is!

Now to be up in 4 hours to raid.. lol nerd.

Night folks
-Drake

New user icon

2009-07-12T15:53:26Z

Just showing off my new shiney avi :)
MEEDDIIICC!
Done by the fantastic artist Armaina
http://armaina.livejournal.com/

Go here and buy!

The person to fail... least.

2009-07-09T22:11:51Z

Those following Twitter may have noticed a few very un-informing posts from oz and I about how shit this job that I landed is. The problem being is it pays too well to leave and is very much a window opener to a whole lot of other prospects. For such a basic job I'd never had thought there would be so much drama... but I guess there is no such thing as a easy job.

For the past 12 days, I have had to approach people in the shopping centre and entice them to join the malls e-newsletter (mailing list) for the chance to win a $500 gift card. Outside of a monthly spam mail about the shopping centre, there is no 'catch'. In theory, people should want to come to this booth because $500 is not a bad prize to get the spam you already get.

Here's where everything went wrong.

*The marketing division decided to give us uniforms that make us look like we're sprooking/selling something with a huge credit card looking "gift" card slapped onto our back. People don't want to talk to us, in fact where a guy in plain black clothes with a "WIN A GIFTCARD" "ASK ME HOW" plastered across the front, people instantly expect I am going to scam them.
*They don't have a target audience for the newsletter so we are encouraged to ask everyone, with the monthly emails being so generic that there is really no "selling" point to make it sound appealing to individuals who don't visit all the time and thus completely negating the purpose of the campaign. (to bring more people in)
*The locations we have been set up in are 'high traffic' areas, in the halls infront of the movies and right beside a nintendo display... While granting max-exposure, the people walking past can't really stop without stopping the flow of people or are preoccupied with making thier movie/game/shop that they don't have time to stop.
*The other staffed hired to work with me are 3 dance girls, really had no drawing motivation other than the $25 an hour promised for completing it. With an almost impossible quota to reach, the girls don't even attempt.. they just stand by the booth and do nothing.

It's with these contributing factors that we don't even come close to quota each day. The Shopping center asked for 150 signatures/emails per day per both (300 total) which whilst I admit was unreasonable, during a busy day could potentially be done. We got 9 days in and I really, really had enough of the mind-numbing request and responses to "Would you like to join our newsletter for a chance to win a $500 giftcard" and every day the management would come down and tell us how we were not making quota, that we had to pick it up and do better. Viciously so that we continued to be hastled and bullied into making quota. By the end of week 1, the 3 girls doing it had enough, they stopped trying and over the weekend we barely made any signatures because they were not going to be there after. I was and come monday we got a new set of 3 girls who were even worst than the first.

Yesterday (after the pre-warning of sacking did not drive results), the centre had enough and fired everyone; pulled their contract and told everyone it would be thier last day...
... that was, everyone except me...
The shopping centre had been watching how hard I worked each day to make quota, how well i documented my work so that I could show how many emails I got a day and asked me to stay on. According to centre management I possess the same work ethics and company values that Southland shopping center is famous for and that they are more than pleased with my work that they would like me to continue the campaign on alone. They have asked a simple 80 emails from me (10 an hour) and have spoken of a future job aspect working for them in centre management promotions. They are going to continue to outsource to the company that I work for on the respect grounds that the company provided them with me who "shed a lot of insight into the campaign and granted us invaluable information for our next promotion." So my bosses are very, very happy to not have lost such a major client and very happy that they were so happy with me.

The downside now of course is that I am doing this alone for the next 3 days. Oz is away on business trip for the weekend and I'm working the weekend so can't hang with people. Feeling a bit alone-ish recently as it is but it's only 3 more days and I don't have to worry about carrying the team anymore.

WElp better get to it

-Dragon out

This is doing the rounds again and this time I'll jump on the bandwagon

2009-05-18T02:12:46Z

1) Who are you?
2) Are we friends?
3) When and how did we meet?
4) Would you kiss me?
5) Give me a nickname and explain why.
6) Describe me in one word.
7) What was your first impression of me?
8) Do you still think the same?
9) What reminds you of me?
10) If you could give me anything, what would it be?
11) How well do you know me?
12) Are you gonna put this in your journal and see what I say about you?
13) Would you meet up with me?

Stolen from kapour and Temba

Nup

2009-05-06T12:28:18Z

Msn/IRC will now only be logged in when I am 100% able to chat.
Folks getting cranky I don't respond or get paranoid Im ignoring them getting a bit too fucking much. 8 differnt people today getting cranky that I dont respond. I try my best to reply and whilst I might not have a job, I still have other interests and responsibilities to maintain around here too. Three days of having to assure people that I care about them and not ignorin them; despite even having a away or busy status at times is more than enough.
/offline dragon.

Who'd be interested in a bit of forum based gaming?

2009-05-04T12:41:41Z

Sending a call out to all you socialites out there in a request to see who would be interested in a game of Mafia.
A brief explination of hte rules easy to read is here: http://www.sitesled.com/members/mikeburnfire/mafiascum04.swf

At it's very core, the game would be played with 6 fellow furries. 2 of which at random would be selected as a mafia scum while the rest would be townies/possibly other classes if I felt we had the smarts to run it. I'd set days to 48 hours between 'days,' so it would require you to be active at least once every 2 days at minimum (but feel free to be more active). I've never hosted a game before but really keen to give it a try aslong as everyone plays by the rules and keeps fair

If you feel that you'd like to give it a go, let me know because I'd like to get started sometime this week before I land work :) The game would be played on the Furstralia forums under roleplay or general. It is a free sign up there and reliable place.

-Drake

Attention Facebook followers

2009-04-28T14:50:21Z

AANyone who doesnt mind an app here or there and wants to help a dragon become an overlord feel free to instal this facebook app and add me as part of your mob.. you can delete it after if it's not your game.. it just assists me to kick ass :)
http://apps.facebook.com/robhood/home.php?inv=654040944

World of Warcraft finds a new level of WTF

2009-04-22T08:59:53Z

http://i.gizmodo.com/5221375/the-wow-pod-brings-porta+potties-to-azeroth

Dreams: Warstomp and run...

2009-03-30T23:08:29Z

So, last night I had in my head that I was going to do another post about sleeping habbits. This time being that I had 3 blood noses in less than an hour just as I got settled in to sleep.
Just before we went to sleep we were watching a show on narcolepsy and stuff and Oz and I were discussing the little jolts you get when your mind hasn't shut off your body and you start going into REM. Oz commented that we both do it a fair bit and my sleeping habbits are cute at times... Nose bleeds started happening so I went downnstairs and played some WoW.

I guess subconciously I mixed the two up

I don't remember the content of the dream very well; but I remember being really really into it and it was very Warcraft driven. The dream didnt get to last as long as I would like as I woke myself up to a real life warstomp... my body doing the very reaction oz and I talked about hours earlier. If that wasnt embarassing enough, oz was sprawled over me at the time and I'm pretty sure I did some domestic violence court order worthy stomp damage to his leg... scared the shit out of him.

I then went back to sleep to dream about an alien takeover, where the only way to kill creatures were to pull thier skulls from their heads with your hands. Was an awesome, twisty style adventure/horror i was really getting into... then woke up with another fucking blood nose.

I must have had it in for Oz last night in my sleep, both times he died pretty early on >..>

*whines* I love my dreams :D