When You Roll Snake Eyes
I had to miss FurPocolypse this year. Of all the weekends and after all the time they had to do it, apartment management told me I had to temporarily move my stuff out of my apartment on Halloween Weekend so they could do long overdue maintenance. The only silver lining is that I was able to occupy the unit directly across the breezeway -- so no storage unit, no POD, no moving truck, just my cousin and myself waltzing Matilda.

A Sign from Above?
It rained very heavily on the Thursday I was going to go to FurPoc; this might not have stopped me (maybe a rain delay) but given the heads up on Tuesday, and the sweet deal for my temporary domicile, it was an offer I could not refuse. Simply put, real life trumps my furry hobby. I'm not going into what if, just that it's funny it happened the way it did.

Separating Fact from Furry
It was a disappointment, not getting to do a "bucket list" convention, but it wasn't devastating. Being well into my mature years, and given my tired old bones, I have to work up a full head of steam in order to go out and do things -- and I was more or less making myself go to FurPoc so I could plant my flag (maybe a red flag?). It would have been a three hour drive (with pit stops) and then checking in to the hotel and then standing in line for registration.
I would have done it -- as it was a planned 3 day vacation, with an offsite hotel room to to recharge in, but life happens. Might have been a bit much anyway. I think back to the old wartime question "Is This Trip Really Necessary?" Mostly, the answer is No.

The same goes for "local" events: Driving four hours, there and back again, for a three hour gathering in mostly in the category of No.
These "local" furry events are for Eat and Meets or Movies, during the week, and it echos back to "not on a school night" only "not on a work night." The only recent exception was a local Park Meet on Veteran's Day, and even for that I only stayed for the picnic part, not the explore at a local site afterwards.

Energy is Sacred
The above statement is from a YouTube channel I watch on Mindfullness. I see energy like a giant bucket of tokens from an arcade, only you can't get more -- one bucket to a customer, and when it's spent, you're outta here.

In my youth, this bucket was like a dragon's horde -- a great mound that would seemingly last forever. Now that I'm four decades down the road, I'm having to go elbow-deep to reach the remain pile.
Thus, I am a little more careful on what I spend it on.

You Have to Please Yourself
After moving house over Halloween weekend, I was in recovery mode for the last ten days. In that time, I though about what is is that I truly enjoy as far as fandom activities go.
I may go back to my roots of watching streamers, drawing and doing some VRChat during my waking cycle -- not staying up until dawn anymore with those several time zones behind me, or spending hours on Discord and Telegram.

Today, I watched a streamer on Twitch that I've been subscribed to for 69 months. It seems like forever but also just a blink of an eye from my perspective.
He usually streams during my work shift, so I haven't been able to watch since the spring, but today I had an empty queue, so I tuned in.
It was so funny that some of the Peanut Gallery thought a five year subscription echos back to the dawn of time. Perhaps for them it does, as 5 years may be 20 to 25 percent of their entire time on this planet.

This streamer is in his 30s, so he's starting to get a more mature perspective -- thanks, in a large part, to the mortgage he's undertaken for his first home. It was great being able to listen again during my working hours due to some down time.

Pencil in Hand, Again.
While I was listening to the streamer, I also filled a sketchbook page. I'm too used to multi-tasking, so I filled up the empty time slices.
I did my warmups, my OCs and a couple of still life objects, nothing special. I then scanned it and posted it to my DA -- since that account almost deactivated due to my inactivity.

Somehow looking at paper and drawing doesn't tire the eyes as much as a staring at a screen. I may do more of that and a little less social media.

Making Lemonade
So using my vacation time to sit and think (while recovering from the forced move) , I reshuffled what it is that I find pleasurable.
I found I was chasing again, and this was tiring me out, so I let go of one furry group I no longer attend (due to logistics) and was again inspired to draw.
I wanted to draw some of the expressions on the characters that are shown in the Rabbit Footprints YouTube channel music videos.

I also realized I can still enjoy model aviation as a spectator. Some furs at the picnic flew their quads and showed some homebuilt foam fixed wing models. I have no desire to build or fly models again, but i can appreciate the advances in the technology and watch as the young eagles fly. One fur is going to give me a transmitter with a USB connection, so If I do get an itch, I can get some stick time on my model RC simulator. And I am satisfied with that.