James the Dog's blog

I knew a lot of people would be going to EF, but I didn't think it would be quite like this! No furs on MSN at all, and the UKFur forums nearly dead. All having fun in Suhl, I guess, while I'm stuck in this bedroom with little else to do other than watch Emmerdale and catalogue all my unlabelled DVD-Rs...

So that's it- Confuzzled for next May registered and payed for. And my bank balance £272 poorer! I'm a very excited and happy dog now, though, really looking forward to it, but it's nearly 9 months away!

The worst sign in the world! For me at least!


So, I'm back after my week a Butlin's. Not the world's most exciting holiday really, but still.

Went to see Harry Potter during the week- in my opinion it's much weaker than the other films. Not a bad film, but not as good as the others by a long shot. My cousin and her husband went to see Bruno, and after hearing about it, I'm glad I didn't go and see it!

Also increased my plushie collection- on a grabber machine while trying to win a plushie Tails, I ended up getting a Sonic and Knuckles as well, and when I did get the Tails- he was deformed, as he only has one tail! However, I did win a bigger Tails from a different arcade- and this one had both tails intact! They were also selling Looney Tunes plushes, and I bought a Sylvester, but there wasn't a Wile E. Coyote to be seen, and I've been after one of them for years! And in all the shops I looked in, there wasn't a single fox to be seen- a massive oversight in  my opinion!



Overall, I did have a good time, but 7 nights really felt too long for me- if it had been a Monday-Friday break, it would have been perfect. I'm not complaining though- apart from the fact I spent massive amounts of money- especially as I have my MOT coming up on Tuesday (god knows what they'll find) as well as Confuzzled to pay for, whenever registration finally opens for that!

Just to post to say that I'm off and I'll see all you guys next week! Hopefully I'll have a good time, and ignoring all those "no dogs on the beach" signs (I'll tell them I'm a funny looking fox ;-) ).

Just bought my copies of Series 1 & 2 of The Raccoons- which I've been planning on buying for ages, but never got round to. So hopefully they'll have arrived by the time I get back. It was watching an episode last year which made me turn a character in the cartoon I'm working on into a Raccoon (a Raccoon with a Derbyshire accent? Probably never been done before!).

I'll be checking online a couple of times while I'm away- seeing as the Confuzzled team haven't yet announced when registration opens, I need to find out when it opens, then be online when it does (or as close to then as humanly (or dogly!) possible).

Also found out this morning that our landline has died for some reason- if you ring it's engaged, and when you pick up it's dead. Which means hours on the phone to an Indian call centre who have no idea what you're talking about, and god knows how long waiting for it to get fixed...

Anyway, see all you guys soon! And if you're all good I might bring you a stick of rock back ;-)

So I've decided to add myself to Wikifur. I don't really know why, but it seems most furs have articles about them, so I decided to be a sheep (well, a dog!) and join in!

Anyway, it's here for anyone who's really interested.

After just being inflicted to it at my sister's house, I think Guantanamo Bay should be provided a feed of CBeebies to be used as torture. I think it would make even the most hardened terrorists give out every piece of information they know!

Noticed today that there's been a lot of flapping and squawking from beind our fireplace- which means that a bird must have fallen down the chimney and is unable to get out. I feel absolutely terrible about this, as there's absolutly nothing we can do, short of removing the gas fire and the whole fireplace, and even then there's no guarantee it won't be dead by then either. The same thing happenned last year too, and I felt just as bad back them.

Just to say I've got back from my first ever furmeet in Sheffield today, and I had a good time. Though I was as nervous as hell- as I spent half an hour at the train station just looking at the group too nervous to say anything to anyone! Did have a good time though, and talked to a few people who were friendly and made me feel a lot better. Also got to meet enteirah, someone who I've been talking to online for the past 8 years. You always worry what people you talk to online are going to be like in real life, and this is the first time I've ever met anyone I've talked to online, but he was charming and we chatted for quite a bit. I ended up leaving quite early though. I was planning on leaving early anyway, as I wanted to get back before mum did, but I hadn't slept much last night and I spent the whole time feeling quite tired and groggy and as I had to drive back from the train station, I didn't want to get any more tired and risk having an accident. I felt quite tired by the time I did get home- and I fell asleep for 2 hours, so I'm glad I didn't stick around any longer.

I'm definatly thinking about going to other meets- possibly Nottingham next week (but I've just remembered I might have something on next Saturday- can't remember if it's next week or the week after), and in York in August- not to Chester next month though, as it's a 7 hour round trip that I can't be bothered with in one day. Also seriously thinking about registering for Confuzzled as well, but it's all a question of explaining things to my mum. I don't feel I can even tell her that I've been out today, let alone telling her where (to be honest, I'm worried she'd freak out over it all), so how do I explain away a whole weekend?

I've just realised that this week marks a year since I first started identifying myself as a furry! Not one year since I first came up with my fursona though- he marks his 9th birthday later on in the year (sadly, I can't remember exactly when I first dreamed him up).

Although I had been vaguely aware of the fandom since 2005 (although mainly in the OMG PERVERTS HAVING SEX WITH ANIMALS WHILE IN COSTUMES! sort of way), it was the day I got back from a night in Manchester (which ironically I later discovered to have been at the exact same time as Confuzzled!) that I decided to look up on it all properly and realised that, yes, I am a furry and probably have been all my life!

Even more so- I'd been looking right at the fandom in the face for years! Starting with visits to a (sadly, now defunt) Foxbusters fansite (I guess being my earliest "brush" with the fandom- pun intended- back in 2002), and then to the deviantart gallery of the site owner, and those of other furries, as well as other websites run by furries, and while I did discover I was far from the only person who depicted myself as a cartoon animal, I never looked into enough to discover the existence of the fandom! And more than anything was a website I was invovled with between 2001 and 2005, of which I recently discovered the owner has been a furry since 2003! I have wondered how I managed to miss the existence of it for so long when it had clearly been under my nose the whole time! And it's one of those things I kick myself over- if just once I'd emailed the owner of the Foxbusters fansite, dug a bit deeper into those DA galleries I was looking at, or thought to ask what "Entei-rah" meant, I could have been a furry for years!

Anyway, I'm here now- and hopefully attending my first furmeet in Sheffield on Saturday. Not sure how long I'll stay- but certainly not any later than 4PM, as that's the time the train I want to catch home leaves. But if all goes well on Saturday, there'll be no questions about me registering for Confuzzled when registration opens next month!

Last week I made a joke to mum that I was thinking of moving out and getting my own place. While it was a joke, ever since, I've been seriously thinking about it. I feel as every day that passes I feel more and more restricted living here- when mum's around I don't really feel I have much personal space, whenever I have something delivered to the house, or want to go somewhere or do something I feel as if she's poking her nose in and wanting to know everything and I don't have any privacy (and if I do buy a fursuit or go to Confuzzled and/or Eurofurence next year, there's no way she won't try and ask as many questions as she can). I know she means well, but as an adult, I don't really want it. Also, I don't feel as if I want to be stuck dependant on other people for the rest of my life either.

My biggest concerns though are- can I look after myself? And will I get depressed and miserable living by myself? And will I be shoved in some awful council house or flat in the middle of one of the many chav areas round here? And where the hell do I find the money for furniture and appliances and other things you need? It is something I need to think about, especially as I'm at the stage where I feel I'm finally starting to buld my own life, but being stuck here will be holding me back.