Well 2015 has come and gone and I thought it might be time to do a little status update and look back on the year before I get any further into the next one. Dumped a few photos too so check those out if you want.

This is a pretty long journal. I don't care if anybody reads it. I think I usually tend to write these things more for myself than for anybody else anyway.

2015 had some really big ups and downs, but all in all was probably the best year of my life so far when I look back on it.

Ups:
-Stepped up my kayaking a lot! Ran a ton of waterfalls for the first time, and got comfortable running much harder whitewater. Made some awesome friends in the river scene.

-Got to experience what it's like to be in a truly awesome relationship with someone. Although it wasn't meant to last forever, I'm left with some truly amazing memories and incredible experiences and this has given me a new standard for what my love is worth.

-Continued my job doing repairs at the data center, I've been there for nearly two years now and have picked up a wealth of training and experience that should come in handy if and when I end up back on the job hunt.

- 2 awesome fur cons! Had a blast at both FC and RF!

- Commissioned a fursuit a little over a year ago and it will hopefully be done really soon! Can't wait!

- Got a truck! My Subaru bit the dust at the beginning of 2016 and I've replaced it with another awesome adventure mobile! Stoked!



Downs:

- Put well over 7K into fixing and maintaining my Subaru, and then wrecked it. Welcome to being an adult I guess...

- Break ups are hard. Adjusting to single life and loneliness is hard. Time to focus on pulling my life together and try to gain some better stability and reconnect friendships I've neglected before I jump into another relationship.

-Although I've gotten nothing but good feedback in the two years I've been at my current job, it doesn't look like they will be able to offer me a permanent position before my contract ends in a few months. As a contractor, the length of time I can spend on contract is limited, and in a few short months I will likely be required to take a 3 month break from the company before I can begin a new contract. Silver Lining: I should get some decent unemployment benefits so that could be fun. It will be a good time to do some traveling and go paddle some new rivers and visit friends in other parts of the country.

- I didn't get to do as much furry stuff this year as I would've liked. Lots of reasons for this: living far from any other furries, work schedule that didn't line up too well with anybody, lack of money due to excessive car repairs and maintenance, dating a non-furry for much of the year, etc. I'm conflicted. I love living where I do, and leaving to go someplace else would be complicated and would have no guarantee of making me happier, even if I was living closer to other furs and able to get more involved in the community. I don't really see any way to get more involved without sacrificing other aspects of my life that have also become very important to me. I guess I need to wait and see what happens with my job in the next couple months and then go from there. There are some things about my living situation that I currently dislike, but all in all, there are a lot of other really good things going on and it's possible that things could improve further, so I'm not ready to throw it all away and start over anytime soon.




I'm not much for resolutions, but here's a few of my goals for 2016

-Make it to BLFC! Hopefully will be able to rock a new fursuit when I'm there!

-Get out of debt! I've had a rough last few years between medical bills and car stuff but hopefully this year will go smoother and I can finally finish paying everything off.

-Start saving! If I can get out of debt this should be possible!

-More Kayaking! Hoping to keep progressing and pushing myself and improving my skills. I've got a big list of rapids and rivers I'm hoping to knock out by the end of the year.

-Stretch more! I've had very little trouble staying in good shape so far and I'm proud of myself for that, but the last 11 years of raft guiding and all sorts of adventures have started to take a toll on my body. I can tell I'm going to need to make a bigger effort to stretch and keep myself loose as I get older.

-Cook more, eat out less. I get 3 healthy meals a day, 5 days a week at my current job, which saves a ton of money and is great for my body, but since I don't buy any groceries during the week, I've found I still sometimes spend a lot by eating out on my weekends. If this job ends like I think it might, I'm going to need to make a much bigger effort to cook meals at home and keep my spending down.

-More music! Music has been more of a backburner hobby the last couple years, which is fine because I've used this time to develop a lot of other skills I'm proud of, but i want to make more of an effort to play this year for sure. I performed at an open mic pretty recently and it was probably the best solo performance I've ever had, and I got a lot of really good feedback so I've got a new list of songs I'm working on and will hopefully be ready to perform some more soon.

-More art! I've had some ideas for other characters I want to create/draw, and I'd really like to keep progressing with my art and improving.

-Cut down on social media. I get a lot of satisfaction from the chats with friends and sharing my adventures online, but I often find myself just killing time browsing things like Twitter and Facebook when I could be working on music, art, or taking care of my body by stretching or exercising. I feel like I already make pretty productive use of my time but I still have much room for improvement so I'm going to put more effort into that this year.

-Cut down on drinking/drugs. I've already made substantial progress on this so far in 2016. I have no intention of quitting anything, I love my vices but there are a multitude of good reasons to cut down my intake and I'm starting to notice some positive changes in myself since I started this effort. I have more money, and although I didn't at first, I'm starting to feel healthier and maybe even happier in some ways.

-Going to bed earlier, getting up earlier. Sometimes due to projects or adventures or good times with friends, staying up late is unavoidable, but often I have no real reason to stay up as late as I do. I guess my rule needs to be: If I'm staying up late, I better be doing something productive!

-Get better about keeping my living space clean and organized. I've been kind of a slob over the last year, and I really want to get better about it. I'm great about keeping the rest of my house clean, but I need to start taking the same care with my personal space.

-More traveling and furry adventures! Hoping that I'll be able to do more cons/meets and have more adventures and travel to see more furry friends than I did over the last year. Planning to stay single for a while so that might make this easier.

Not going to beat myself up if I can't do all this stuff but it's always good to have goals to work on!

Anyway... that's the latest guys. Wishing you all the best in 2016!

-Blizz

This should be a blast! I'm picking up Toby Dingo from PDX on Friday and we'll be in Hood River through the Weekend since I've gotta work Sat, Sun, and Mon. Unsure where we'll go or what we'll get into after that. Might head down to Bend, Oregon for a few days and then drive up to Seattle, hopefully we'll get to do some rafting, hiking, fun stuff in the days before the con. Hit me up if you want to get rad with us. We should be up there by sometime on Thursday, possibly earlier.

Where are you staying?
The Hilton

What day are you getting there?
Probably Thursday

How are you traveling?
RoaaaadTriiiip with Toby Dingo!

Who will you be rooming with?
Toby Dingo

How is the best way to find you?
Out of suit: I look like a bro. Tall, fit, white guy, with a big goofy smile. Flatbrim Space Wolf Hat, probably a Hyena Agenda Hoodie. I talk loud. May or may not have facial hair.

In Suit: I'll be wearing Moon Moon quite a bit. Big derpy gray and white wolf thing, probably with some green snowboard goggles. Probably hanging out with Toby Dingo a lot, carrying around a ghettoblaster, If you hear some 90's hiphop playing it might be us.

Are there any panels you might be attending?
Probably not.

Will you be suiting?
As much as I possibly can.

Do you do free art?
Maybe? I don't draw much, and when I do I usually agonize over it. I have a hard time just whipping up a quick little doodle but maybe I'll embarrass myself trying.

Do you do trades?
Depends I guess. I may have something to offer in trade but it probably won't be art.

Do you do badges?
Nope

What is your gender?
Dogman

How tall are you?
6'1"

Can I talk to you?
YES! Please do! I'm always looking to meet more people at these things.

Can I touch you?
It's good to ask first but yeah I generally like being touched. Gimme all the pets and skritches.

Can I visit your room?
Probably. If you haven't been invited it's polite to ask first.

Can I buy you drinks?
Yup. I like drinks.

Can I give you stuff?
Yup. I like stuff.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Hugs sure! Snuggles it's good to ask first. I love snugglin though.

Smoke?
I only smoke those left handed cigarettes...

Drugs?
I generally stick to pot and alcohol but every once in a while I get a wild hair up my ass and try something else.

Are you nice?
Yup.

Do you have an artist table?
Nope

Will you be going to parties?
Yup. I might just bring the party to you.

Will you be performing?
Might bring a guitar to jam on.

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Shouting any of the following is good, my hearing sucks: Blizzard! BLEEEZARD! Blizz! Moon Moon! Woody!

Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
Doing dog things. Fursuiting, eating, drinking, begging for belly rubs.

What/where will you be eating?
Lotsa places/stuff. I love pizza, thai, chinese, burgers, whatever.

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
Probably. Don't forget your wallet.

Can I draw in your sketchbook?
Won't have it with me most of the time but if I do, go for it!

Can I take your picture?
Yeah sure.

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Not get arrested! Make lots of new friends! Reconnect with all the folks I haven't seen in a while! Dancing, parties, and snuggles! Fursuit, get pets, be a dog.

I feel like I've been pretty distant from the furry scene for several months (dating a non-fur will do that to you), but hadn't really updated my profile here in a while so I finally decided to do it.

I've been so out of touch lately that I didn't even realize that Furlandia is this weekend and it's only 50 miles away from me. Unfortunately I'll be working all weekend but I'm contemplating coming down to party Saturday night and then taking off early for work the next morning. I don't know who I'd be partying with or where I'd crash but hopefully I can figure something out. It would be great to do some fursuiting and party with folks, even if it means a rough, hungover Sunday at work. Get in touch with me if you see this and want to party or have a spot for me to crash at the con on Saturday night. Still not sure if I'll make it but I really want to.



Uploaded some cool photos from the last few months, con shenanigans, kayaking adventures, kinda of a random assortment. A lot of them have links to the videos or clips that I pulled them from. Some in my scraps too. I forgot how to tag people/ link profiles with people's avatars again so if anybody feels like reminding me what the little code is for that, let me know, and I'll try and go back and tag some people.

Do people still use FA? I haven't really been on here much since I started a furry twitter account, it's just been a little easier to get in touch with people that way I guess. But it's got its limitations and I don't really know anybody who's all that active on Weasyl so here I am.

2015 has been a crazy year so far. Had a blast at FC with Bomber Panda and Mill, also got to tear it up at Furry Ski Weekend for the first time, that was a hoot and I'm definitely planning on coming back to that again.

Since the beginning of the year I've put several fursuits worth of repairs into my car to keep it running. I'm well over 6K into it this year. That's been a drag and has been kind of limiting my ability to go to any other cons in a while. Welcome to being an adult I guess.

I've been dating someone really great, a fellow kayaker, and she's been really helping me step it up this year. We've been really getting after it lately and I've run a lot of new rivers this winter and spring, and run some pretty cool waterfalls for the first time. It's been great to be able to connect with someone who can challenge me like this and I've had so much fun with her. She's not a fur but she's pretty open minded about it all and that's been cool, I feel like I can be myself around her and I don't have to hide anything, but I feel like I've definitely been out of touch with the fandom lately which is a little disappointing. She's headed back grad school pretty far away from here later this summer so I'm not sure what's going to happen after that and it's been a little bit stressful. I've contemplated trying to leave and go with her, but I've worked so hard to build my life here in the gorge and it would be really difficult to leave everything behind. My track record hasn't really ever been good with long distance relationships either so I'm not sure how things will work out once she leaves. I'm doing my best to not worry about it and just enjoy the time that we have together but it's tough.

I guess I'm just going to hope that if it's meant to be, that maybe fate will bring us back together somehow.

Anyway just wanted to throw this out there and say "Hey guys I'm still here!"

Hotel
Murriot I think?

Arrival/Departure
Arriving in Oakland Wed morning and meeting up with  coreshot  millennius Probably staying at the con through Monday and then hopefully doing some snowboarding before I return to the PNW on Thurs.

Means of transportation
Alaskan Airlines

Sharing a room with
I think  coreshot and  millennius are letting me crash with them, but I may stay elsewhere if opportunities for snuggles present themselves.

Who do you hang out with?
I won't know too many people down there so I'll be trying to make lots of friends. If you see me standing around awkwardly please feel free to introduce yourself!

Gender
I have man parts.

Preference
Not the straightest arrow in the quiver.

Relationship Status
Casually dating someone. Not "leashed"

How old are you?
27

How tall are you?
6'1"

Are you an Artist?
Yeah I guess.

Do you have an artist table?
Nope

Do you take commissions?
Nope

Do you do trades?
Possibly

Are you a Fursuiter?
Yup

What's your fursuit?
Moon Moon

Attending parties?
Yup. I am a party animal.

Do you drink?
Yup.

Can I buy you a drink?
Yes please.

Do you smoke?
Just herb, but I'm flying so I'm not bringing any with me. Avoiding cigs. I'd hookah though.

Are you attending any panels?
Maybe. If I do it'll probably be more to hang out with people than because I'm actually interested.

Stage or public performance?
I'll be fursuiting. Lend me a guitar and I'll sing you some songs.

How do I identify my self to you?
Just say hi! I'm pretty friendly.

Rules of engagement (physical contact)?
I love hugs, petting, being touched. It's polite to ask first.

How can I find you?
Excellent question, I'm not sure where I'll be most of the time but you should be able to reach me on my phone: call/text, DM on twitter or something.

Can I talk to you?
Sure. Watch out though I might talk your ear off.

Can I give you lots of money?
Is this a thing? Yes of course you can give me money! Wait.... there must be some kind of catch here... right?

Can I give you stuff?
Sure. No diseases though please.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Yup. I like hugs and snuggles, especially if fursuits are involved.

Can I come to dinner with you?
Probably. Don't expect me or my friends to pay for your food though.

Can I hang out with you?
Yes please!

Can I take your picture?
In suit, yes. IRL ask.

How do I know if you're not looking to socialize (angry, busy or upset)?
I'm generally a really friendly happy person, but I'll avoid you if you're bothering me. Don't take it personally if I can't make time for you.

Personality Type?
I might seem a little shy at first if I'm around a bunch of people I don't know, but I'm really pretty outgoing. Friendly and Fun. I can talk your ear off if you get me started on something. I love to be the life of the party and the center of attention.

What's your goal for the con this year?
Make lots of friends. Snuggle. Find rad furries and get rad with them. Not get arrested.


Can't wait! If you want my contact info please hit me up! Twitter's probably the fastest way blizzardwolf

Saw some else do this so I copied. Skipped some questions.

1.What did you do in 2014 that you’d never done before?
I finally learned to roll a kayak! Lots of other things too but I'll save them for responses to other questions.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't really remember if I made any. I hardly smoked any cigarettes, maybe that was one of them.

5.What countries did you visit?
Didn't leave the country but did venture to a new world of pain at one point.

6.What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014? More traveling.


7.What dates from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Rainfurrest was epic. Crazy adventures with Bomber Panda that week.

8.What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Despite my lack of experience I somehow landed a really awesome full time tech job as a computer medic, healing some of of the largest supercomputer clusters in the world. How's that for a change of direction? I went from whitewater guide/professional dog cuddler to that!


9. What was your biggest failure?
Got so drunk I barfed in the back of my car.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
In January I shattered my face, basically broke my whole upper jaw off my skull, shattered my cheekbones and nose, put a pretty big hole through my bottom lip. Had to have reconstructive surgery and that wasn't too much fun either, but I look like myself again and you can barely tell that anything happened to me. Don't think I ever really got sick this year though.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
HEALTH INSURANCE. My first hardshell kayak. Commissioned a fursuit.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My family was awesome, taking care of my after my bike accident.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The police.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Pizza, Kayaking, Fursuits.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I didn't break my neck and I got to keep all my teeth!

16. What song will always remind you of 2014?
Michael Woods - Platinum Chains, from Skip Armstrong's kayak film "Dream" with Ben Marr.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? I think I've bulked up a tiny bit.
c) richer or poorer? Richer in both money and experience.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Traveling around to see old friends.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Swimming in cold rivers.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Family

21. Did you fall in love in 2014?
Not really. Ok maybe a little bit.

22. How many one-night stands?
Uhhhh.... I can count them on one hand?

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Walking Dead was Church. Game of Thrones, Bojack, SOA, Metalocalypse.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year
I don't really do the whole hate thing too much. That cop that let his K9 partner die in a hot car, that was pretty hate worthy.

25. What was the best book you read?
Saga, a graphic novel written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Went to a Phish show and danced my ass off in a Red Panda kigu all night.

27. What did you want and get?
Fursuit, kayak, better job, nicer house.

28. What did you want and not get?
Wanted to kayak the waterfalls on the Lower Wind, but never got around to it before the levels came up.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
MConkey, Guardians of the Galaxy

30. What did you do on your birthday?
Kayaked the Middle White Salmon for the first time.

31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not shattering my face?

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2014?
Board shorts and shirts that show off my arms. Big Mans/Everybodys trucker hat, A red panda kigu.

33. What kept you sane?
Rafting, Kayaking, Stable income, fursuit snuggles, getting laid.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Tie between Rush Sturges and Benny Marr

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Woo Oregon legalized weed! Seriously though the police really need to stop shooting so many people.

36. Who did you miss?
Everyone. I really wish I had more time for all my friends. There are just too many of them.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Finally meeting Bomber Panda in person was pretty awesome, but we'd known eachother for over a year at that point. All the other furs I got to adventure with, Eboz, Kit Baltoro, Niko, etc.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014:
-Don't ride your bike home when you're shit-housed.
-Never giving up. This year started off as bad as ever and since then so many amazing things have happened.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

"The Breeze" by Doctor Dog

Are you moving much too fast?
And the good times that just don't last
If you're always on the go
Make an angel in the snow
And freeze

Do you feel like you're stuck in time?
Forever waiting on that line
If nothing ever moves
Put that needle to the groove
And sing

Is it a dream keeping you awake?
Is it the stillness that makes you shake?
If you need to know for sure
What's on the ocean's floor
You'll sink

Do you like things the way they seem?
Or are you looking behind the scenes?
Well, if you've gotta know
What it takes to make it sow
Just believe

Are there dark parts to your mind?
Hidden secrets left behind?
Where no one ever goes
But everybody knows
It's all right

Do you get dizzy on the ground?
It must be something going 'round
What blows us here today
It'll blow us all away,
The breeze
Ahh, will blow us all away
The breeze
Ahh, will blow us all away
The breeze

Where are you staying?
Not entirely sure. You may randomly find me curled up at the foot of your bed.

What day are you getting there?
Hopefully Thurs night if I can get all my shit together by then.

Who will you be rooming with?
Nobody in particular.

Who will you hang out with during the convention?
It's my first con, I'm hardly going to know anybody, so I guess I'll just be trying to make friends!

Are you attending any stage or public performances?
Probably.

Will you be suiting?
Most of the time!

Which suit(s) will you be bringing?
Moon Moon (Sumanitu's old suit)

Do you do art?
Sometimes.

Do you do badges?
Not really.

What is your gender?
Male

How tall are you?
6'1"

Are you taken? Are you looking for a 'mate'?
Single. Not looking too hard these days, but yeah I guess I am looking.

Can I talk to you?
Sure!

Can I touch you?
Yes. Hugs and petting are great.

How can I find you?
A grey wolf with a green bandana, might have snowboard goggles.

Can I visit your room?
Umm... I don't really have one how about I visit yours?

Can I buy you drinks?
Yes please. I like drinks.

Can I give you stuff?
Depends on the stuff, but yeah I usually like stuff.

Are you nice?
Yup. The nicest.

Do you have an artist table?
Nope.

Will you have art in the Art Show? General or Adult sections?
Nope.

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Barking. Or petting. Or you could just say hi.

Where will you be most of the time during the con?
Not really sure. Whatever looks fun at the time, wherever I end up. If you are looking for me check the bar first.

What/where will you be eating?
Not sure. Anything but fast food I guess. Pizza? Waffles? Do they have poutine anywhere?

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
Do you like getting drinks accidentally spilled on you? Then yes follow me around. The more I like you the more likely you are to get spilled on. If you see me talking excitedly and gesticulating a bunch you should watch out though, seriously. It's not just my drink you need to watch out for, it's all of them. My attorney recommends that I provide sippy cups for everyone that I drink with, but I might not have enough for everyone, so it's a good idea to bring your own. Don't let this all keep you from hanging out with me. I'm actually a lot of fun, I just have a drinking problem like that guy in Airplane. If we are fursuiting I'll try and be a lot more careful but still, watch out.

Can I look in your sketchbook?
I probably won't have it on me most of the time.

Can I draw in your sketchbook?
If I've got it then yes.

Can I take your picture?
Yeah I'm an attention whore. Snap away! If I'm not in my suit then ask first I guess, but I don't really care.

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Make lots of friends. Party my tail off! It's my first con, it'll be my first time fursuiting with other actual fursuiters so that'll be rad. I can't wait! I'm probably going to take off on Saturday afternoon so if you want to kick it find me before then!

Kit Baltoro and my dog and I climbed St. Helens last weekend. It was bodacious. For those who haven't seen it, here's the link to my video edit. If you wait till the end, (or skip to it) I added some rafting footage to finish out the song I chose for the soundtrack. More adventures on the way soon, I think we're going to be climbing hood either this weekend or the next one hopefully.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC7GHsDZPVY

This was last weekend. I was too broke to go down to BLFC but I got to have some fun in the snow. Steeps, spines, and trees in the Meadows Private Reserve (Mt. Hood) sidecountry, all POV footy. An old friend of mine made the triphop/dubstep soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElR_s6L41E8&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

I picked the wrong week to get a flat tire. I've been driving on a spare since Sunday, and finally have time today to go get it fixed. I've been working a bunch of 12 or 13 hour days trying to get everything set up for my departure from my current job, and haven't had time to take care of it till today. I guess everyone is getting their snow tires removed this week, every time I've stopped by Les Schwabb this week the line has been long as dicks.

I got a new job. Starting monday I'll begin working as a temporary contractor for the worlds largest search engine. I'll be a data center technician in the columbia gorge, basically swapping out lots of hard drives and ram and running ethernet and fiber optic cables and stuff. It's a big change of direction for me, I don't have much experience but I guess I'm good at job interviews and convinced them to give me a shot. I've been a river rat and snowboard bum for almost 10 years now and it's probably time I grew up and took a real job. It sounds like a pretty cool deal, they're going to let me bring my dog to work and the Google campus sounds like a fun place to work. So yay that. Gonna miss playing with all my doggie bros at my current job, but this one will pay much better and has a lot of potential to turn into a real career.

Edited some footage from the Green Truss this fall.

Edit: ding dong forgot to post the damn link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l1vLDy7kKM&feature=youtu.be

I bought Suma's old wolf suit, it's rad! It was clean, everything fits great, even the feet, and it's been pretty well maintained. I just spent the last two days re-furring my old wolf head with some of the scrap fur that came with the suit, and that didn't turn out too bad for my first time trying anything like that. I made it a use your own eyes kind of head so that the vision would be awesome. I don't think the vision is quite as good as it was before, but it's nice and comfy (even with my face healing from surgery I can get it on without hurting), it breathes way better, and still works well with my goggles, so I think it will definitely make a better snowboarding head than the toony one that came with the suit. I'm tempted to maybe try and make another one, balaclava based, because I'm pretty sure I've still got enough fur for it. But I'm pretty worn out from making this one and I might need a break before that. I'm going to try to make some removable eyes for the new head as well, because I'd like to be able to put those in when I'm not snowboarding/using the goggles. Hoping to get my roommate to help me take some better photos but I'll put up a few go pro stills in my scraps for the time being.

Anyway, I'm heading to Seattle again next weekend to pick up my bike and hopefully do some mellow snowboarding and get my legs back under me. I'll probably have the suit with me if anybody wants to do some fursuit snowboarding or hit the bars or something. I want to go suiting with people really bad, now that I have this, hit me up if you're keen, I'm always pretty close to Portland.

Super stoked! I haven't been this happy about anything in a while! It probably wasn't the financially responsible thing to do considering that I'm about to be drowning in medical bills, but screw it, I've wanted this for a long time, and it's really brought my mood up a lot after everything I've been dealing with lately.

Whew what a day. I checked into the hospital at 630 am for my facial reconstruction, and didn't get to leave till about 12 hours later. The recovery has sucked so far. The pain after the surgery was pretty bad and nothing seemed to really work. Normally morphine helps but today it wasn't enough, no matter how much they pumped into me it didn't seem to be working. Aside from that the procedure went really well though. I had a big fracture extending all the way across my upper jaw and cheeks, and they pulled that back out and screwed plates in to hold it together. I can definitely feel a huge difference, now that my jaw lines up the way it's supposed to. I feel like it's going to heal fast and I can't wait to be able to chew normally again. My nose was completely shattered and they got that rearranged and splinted as well and that's what really hurts the most out of everything. He thought he would have to put a plate in that area too because it looked like one of the fractures continued through my orbital bone (eye socket), but luckily that didn't turn out to be necessary.

Anyway, super glad to get that over with. I feel like tomorrow's going to be a really rough day because the pain will get worse when the rest of the anesthesia/anesthetic wears off, but it's nice to know that I'm finally on the home stretch. Time to finish season 3 of Game of Thrones. Hoping to get some more artwork done this weekend as well, once I'm up for it. I feel like I've been on a roll with my art lately, and it's been a fun way to deal with all this free time.

So I was riding my bike back from a show in Seattle Friday night and crashed bad. I pretty much shattered most of my face. The good news is that my neck isn't broken like the doctors originally thought, and I still have all my teeth. I couldn't get a hold of anyone and nobody knew where I was, so I spent a scary, lonely, uncomfortable night in the hospital strapped to a backboard for most of it. Such a relief to find out my neck wasn't broken though. I signed up for healthcare right before this happened so that's lucky too. I'm going to need reconstructive surgery to put my face back together and fix the fat hole in my lower lip, but supposedly everything should heal well and I will still look like myself afterwards, plus a few new scars. Right now I look like a real life version of one of undead clown's gore portraits. The pain is tremendous, it's like nothing I've ever experienced before, and I've broken a ton of bones in the past. Apparently it won't get much better till after the surgery, and even then it will initially get a lot worse for the first couple of days afterwards. All the bone pieces in my upper jaw, cheekbones, eye sockets, and nose are sort of just floating around waiting to be wired/screwed back together. On one hand I'm nervous about the surgery because the idea of someone cutting holes and screwing metal plates into my face is really scary, but on the other hand I know it will feel good to get it over with and actually start healing so I can move on with my life.

The drugs help. My friends, my family, my dog have all been awesome, and I have a whole new appreciation for all the wonderful people in my life. I've never felt so much love coming at me. It's just as overwhelming as the pain.

I've also realized that this is probably the longest I've gone without drinking or smoking in many years. It doesn't really feel like a true detox because I'm on on narcotic painkillers 24/7, but it's something I guess. That first beer after all this is finished will be heavenly.

I will be spending a lot more time online than normal until I'm healed enough to go back to work. Maybe I should get back into videogames games or dig up my sketchbook or something. I'd love to make some morphine influenced beats right now but I'm staying with my parents till I'm done recovering so I don't have my gear.

End smashed face rant.

I'll be in Seattle next weekend! I'm bringing my dog, my snowboard, my fixie, a bass/amp, and some beer money! Sounds like I'm going snowboarding both Friday and Saturday although I'm not sure where, probably Crystal. I'll probably be staying somewhere in the U-district, or Fremont.


Sounds like there's quite a few folks sticking around instead of going to FC so lets party! I'm hoping to use this as a way to rally some more interest in my trip to Bachelor the following weekend, and for anyone that is planning on going it's probably a good idea to get some riding in this weekend as a warm up.

Tentative plans are to snowboard in the daytime and ride my bike around at night and barhop, unless I hear of a good party. Maybe jam with some old friends if I get the chance, but yeah hit me up lets go ride and get drinks.

Blizz

So I've been planning a Northwest "Ski Con" of sorts for the end of this month, the weekend of the 25th. Blizzard Con/Blizzardfest/Blizzapalooza, whatever you want to call it. Let's go snowboarding and party in fursuits and get rad!

I've got a house reserved in Sunriver that around a dozen or so furs should be able to stay and party at for the weekend, it'll be a blast if we get a good crew! I've heard from a few interested people, but I thought I'd post here to see if I could drum up some more interest.

Hit me with a pm or an email at blizzardwolf87[at]gmail.com if you are interested or have questions, and if I don't know you too well, tell me a bit about yourself.

I'm pretty new to this whole furry scene, and don't know too many of ya'll that well, but I think this might be a good way for me to reach out to the Northwest community and get better acquainted with people.


Those of you who already know about this, spread the word and try to get some more shredders in on it, the next couple weeks will go by pretty quick and I want to have things relatively planned out and organized pretty soon.


This aint my first rodeo, I've been putting together kick ass ski weekends for over a decade now, this is just the first furry one!

So about a month ago I started working at a high end kennel/"pet camp" and so far I really dig it. The facility is super nice, people can pay extra for their dogs to have private rooms with heated floors, windows, patios, race car beds. They also sign their dogs up for all sorts of activities like trail walks, playgroups, buddy time, cuddles, bedtime stories and tuck ins. So I spend a large part of my day literally just getting paid to play with dogs, supervising playgroups, walking dogs, playing fetch, and cuddling. There's a lot of cleaning, hosing things down, normal kennel stuff too but for the most part the job is pretty awesome. I tell people that I'm a professional puppy cuddler. When we run the playgroups we wear these fanny packs with spray bottles, air horns, deterrent spray, (we use the spray bottles and airhorns to break up fights, the deterrent is basically mace so it's pretty much a last resort if we actually get attacked ourselves) it looks ridiculous, I need to get a picture of it. I've gotten a lot of good feedback from the management and they're giving me a raise, I'm hoping to get a supervisor/manager position if I stick around. I was so determined to find another brewery job but it looks like I can make more working with doggies and it's a lot more fun and less stressful. I know I can't get paid to run waterfalls forever so maybe this is my calling?

TLDR; lost my job at the brewery, but now I get paid more to cuddle puppies and wear a fanny pack.

I'm heading up to Rainier with a friend this Thursday to hike up and play in the snow. I've never tried a split board before but my friend has an extra one so I might give it a go. I still haven't used my new NS Proto HD yet though so I may opt for snowshoes so I can try out that board. We call my friend Snowolf, he's actually a non fur but he's chill. We'll be getting a pretty early start, and probably moving along pretty fast, but if you're keen and interested in tagging along hit me up!

Well... I don't know if we'll win anything or not, some of the other ones coming in are a little more polished editing wise, but I'm pretty sure my waterfall footage has got to be the most badass submission so far. Anyway, they aren't too bad considering I threw them all together in one day. It makes me want to go back and actually spend some time making some better, longer edits. The soundtracks are all my originals as well. Just to clarify, the guy bouldering isn't me.

Running BZ Falls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmAjuRNXld4

Running Husum Falls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yz8o2PiEBQ

Bouldering near the mouth of the White Salmon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUssn4dlvfY&feature=youtu.be

I'm entering a short outdoor film contest with my rafting friend tomorrow, and I'm only going to have one day to shoot, complete the edit, and upload. I threw this quick one together as fast as I could to get some practice with the program I'm going to use, and to see if the 30 second soundtrack I created will work alright. The one I upload tomorrow will have a different waterfall and should be a little more polished, hopefully with more than one angle. Anyway, since this test is the same footage I got some of my stills from that I recently put up, I thought you guys might like to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv0KAlilZQo&feature=youtu.be

Toast and Niko came down to climb Mt. Adams this weekend! I had to work all day today so I didn't get to summit with them, but I hiked up a little ways above lunch counter (the camp spot half or 2/3 of the way up the mountain) and got a little bit of snowboarding in on my way back down. It gets me stoked to meet other furs who like to get out and do badass things! Hope to head up and do some fursuited shredding with those guys this winter! Gotta get a new suit though...

Toast and Niko came down to climb Mt. Adams this weekend! I had to work all day today so I didn't get to summit with them, but I hiked up a little ways above lunch counter (the camp spot half or 2/3 of the way up the mountain) and got a little bit of snowboarding in on my way back down. It gets me stoked to meet other furs who like to get out and do badass things! Hope to head up and do some fursuited shredding with those guys this winter! Gotta get a new suit though...

Sumanitu and Squeaker Fox made it out to the Gorge for a trip down the White Salmon last Sunday! Good times, guys! I got stung by a large black scorpion that seemed to magically appear in my boat out of nowhere, that was a bit surprising, but luckily getting stung by those isn't too bad. I guess he hadn't planned on a class IV whitewater trip that day and it was his way of requesting to be let off the raft. After making him pose for some pictures, I asked the guys if we could "take him to go?" but they made me leave him behind. At the end of the trip, Suma and I took the raft over Husum Falls, a 15' class V waterfall, and unfortunately we both ended up going for a swim, we stayed with the boat though, and we were both back in within a few seconds. Hope we can try again soon. I raft this waterfall with commercial crews several times each weekend and normally it goes better, so I'm itchin for a redemption run!

Finally made it up to Seattle to attend Cage's birthday party. Brought a small keg of Ipa from the brewery I work at, and drank waaay too much of it. Finally got to meet Arky, Cage, Toast, Phor, and a bunch of other awesome people I've heard about or met online but never in person! I think I'm still hung over. Made a ton of new friends! Looking forward to the next one!

After literally years of trying to think up a good name for my wolf fursona, I think I'm going to go with Blizzard, or "Blizz" for short. Hope it sticks.

Just finished this edit last night, a little throwback to my shenanigans at Telus 2012.
Tried to upload the movie but it's not working right now so here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiq7P92zNk4

The winter was hard this year. Despite the fact that I love my mate to death, and we have a lot in common, and she's done more for me than anyone I've ever known aside from my parents, I regretfully had to make the decision to leave her. I cherish the good times we had, for they were truly awesome, and I don't think I've ever loved anyone the way I loved her, but for reasons I don't wish to get into, things weren't working out, and I decided I couldn't continue the relationship any longer. I ignored a lot of red flags and stayed with her longer than I should have, to a large degree because I knew I'd be homeless and unable to really take care of myself without her, but as I've learned, this is not a good reason to stay in a relationship. I felt that it wasn't right for my dog to have to deal with me living out of my car, so I've moved back to stay with my parents while I try to get back on my feet and save up enough to move back to Hood River for the summer. I've got a few good job leads that I'm waiting to hear back on, and I can't wait til rafting season starts so I can go back to the job that pays me the most and offers me the most enjoyment. I've hit bottom, but we all know you can't keep a good dog down, and I'm sure to come out of this stronger, and smarter than I was going in. Learning the hard way is tough, but it can often teach you much better than the easy way can. Here's to new beginnings!