apothacer

No, I don't have to pay 20K, or health care, or tuition.  I'm getting them all handed to me on a silver platter!  Did I mention I got into grad school?  I'm going for my masters in plant biology.  I'm getting 12 credits of tuition per semester covered, and 50% health care coverage.  I don't know if that 50% can be supplemental or what, I'll have to see as my current plan expires as I graduate.  Not sure what to do over the summer for health insurance but I'll figure it out.
Been living under a ROCK the last week with finals though.  Can't wait till they're done with.  I'll be going on to do my PHD elsewhere.  The politics of this are such that they want me to do my PHD here, but since I already did my undergraduate here, I don't know how much I would really have left to learn from the staff here.  Plenty I am sure but tossing myself in with a different group of scientists having already done a masters will be a better investment in my brain bank I'm sure.

This pleases me.

Also... It seems that there has been a newly released Pokemon, or group of Pokemon or something like that.  I never watched the show, I never played the game, I was never into them.  I only know this from what I am seeing in my art in-box. 

And I have one thing to say.

Vaporeon... my babies... have them.

Peace!

Hey there.  Gonna just say you can find my other accounts on Fur Affinity, Deviant Art, and YouTube by just looking up Apothacer.  See, that wasn't so hard?  So, because I've been putting off studying to have an expansive list of interests, just gonna copy a journal which concerns the reasons for my getting a live journal account.

Short Version: IT WAS AWESOME!  I HAD BACON COOKIES! I WILL BE GOING BACK AGAIN, BRINGING FOOD AND BEER!

Long Version:
  I wasn't really sure what to expect.  My roomies have been to a fur meet recently and said it was kind of an awkward affair with a few cool people and a lot people with zero social skills probably falling on the spectrum of Aspergers and Autism.  It was to be a bonfire on a farm with horses and donkeys and such, and there was food, and the host was one of the older members of the fandom.  I've always been comfortable by people older than me be it a lot or a little, but my roomie was pessimistic that we might end up being the youngest people in attendance.  She could not go due to her work load for school, I however chose to attend in the company of a good friend of the draconic persuasion.  I met my friend after a three and a half hour drive, and chilled on his campus and in his dorm for a bit.  We then drove the hour to our destination.  My friend had heard about this meet through live-journal but didn't really know the people in attendance.  I figure it would be a lot easier going to a Convention with a friend but not knowing who else was in attendance, here we had to find a parking spot in our host's driveway. 
  After ringing the doorbell nervously, and going around to try and find several points of entry, we finally got to the gate, and spotted two people sitting up on the porch.  We waved, and were greeted, then were greeted again by the braying of mule or donkey, I couldn't be sure. We get up to the porch make our introductions.  At this point I can only see three people.  I ask how many have come and it turns out there are about a dozen other folks out playing in the woods.  As much as I would have liked to have played in the woods, I figured for reasons of introduction, it would be better to meet up on the porch than traipsing through the woods, and within about 20 minutes they were approaching the porch anyway. 
  At this point, I started to really smile and relax.  A fellow of the feline persuasion who I had first greeted me on the porch had already started sharing the art of his grilling using a pellet grill to practically smoke and slow cook chicken thighs.  It looked delicious.  He was very animated and a good story teller throughout the night. The others arrived on the porch, and there was a whirlwind of introductions, including to the accompanying dogs Tango and Lisa.  We had little conversations about our names, both real and invented, which was helpful even if I only grasped about a fourth of the names by the end of that evening.  We start kicking back and telling stories till the burgers are done.  There were FIVE GRILLS in use!  Some of them could barely contain all the delectable treats in store for us.  I was overwhelmed with the gracious generosity I was shown and will be SURE to bring along some nice side-dishes when I attend another of these.
  The bonfire aspect fell through due to the dry forest and a burn ban, so the chocolate bunnies and gunpowder I had brought were probably not the best thing to be experimenting with.  I DID however bring a sling staff to launch said bunnies into the blaze once they were packed with gunpowder.  I broke it out and we all had some fun launching rocks off into the wild blue yonder, or at least to the other side of the corral once the animals had been stabled. Among other things we launched were a soda can full of water, gravel, and horse poo.
  More people trickled in and the other food was shared out.  Someone with a thick boston accent prompted me to do my Cape Coddah' impression.  I was then asked to do an impression of a southerner and I deiced to give it my best shot, making up for what I lacked in vocal imitation with the material of what I said, giving a brimstone and hellfire speech about having the blood of Jesus pay for our sins, which in any other context would have probably gotten some Amen's from a southern baptist.  This brings up a string of messing with the Jehovah's Witness stories.   We start swapping stories that get better and better as the sun sets and we start eating chicken.  I was fully absorbed by the last story of the evening involving a large German Shepherd and a UPS man.  When the story was over I sat back, and realized all eyes were on me, then I looked just to my right, and there was an anthro collie sitting among our number.  I jumped only slightly, and started laughing, and everyone laughed with me.
  As the night wore on people went to their cars or into the house to retrieve tails, heads, arms, and other various accouterments till there were four fursuiters in total dancing with glow sticks, giving out hugs, and posing for photos.  I was in heaven.  We moved out into the parking lot to continue the photo-shoot posing on cars and motorcycles.  Our host came to join us brandishing a targe, dirk, and sword, in addition to the kilt he had been wearing all evening.  I had to go get the sheleighly http://apothacer.deviantart.com/art/Sheleighly-160126943 and maces http://apothacer.deviantart.com/art/Maces-156949090 from my friends car, to show off my own weaponry.  While I had nothing on his bladed weaponry one of the attendees took up one of my maces and beckoned me to spar.  I was cautious, since these were real weapons and no toys, but three minutes energetic swinging, dodging, and parrying left us none the worse for wear and entertained the onlookers once the photo shoot had ended.  After the fight was over an airsoft pistol seemed to materialize and there commenced the kind of casual passing the gun and shooting each other and empty beer cans that one might expect.  Next to parking cars, it seems to me that parkinglots were made for this kind of fooling around.
  We crowded onto a side porch (airsoft shenanigans still underway) while our host brought out his various swords, and these were some NICE swords, a few quite functional and razor sharp.  This weaponry lesson retired to his living room where I spied a Bohdran and played for a bit.  The weaponry lesson was over when he tripped over his targe and got a small slice on his leg.  He was very very knowledgeable and easy to listen too.  We moved back onto the porch where more food was being shared, including MAPLE BACON COOKIES!  I shit you not these mo-fos were TASTY!  I'm going to have to find a recipe and make some myself. 
  We started talking about animals you never see and I mentioned Coatimundi.  Someone asked what that was and we were swept away by an older gentleman who also lived at the house.  As it turns out he had known some when his friend worked at a zoo.  He pulls out a photo album full of Polaroids of the animals, including shots of his friend lounging with full grown lions, taken from inside the cage!  He then starts showing me a selection of organ pipes the four main kinds (diapason, stopped, string, and trumpet) and then shows me his organ.  He plays Toccata en Fugue which is a WONDERFUL piece of music let me tell you.  I spent the next 45 minutes engrossed by all he had to tell me and explain about organs.  You can really tell when someone loves something and knows their stuff, and even if it's not a subject you would otherwise be interested in, it grabs you and gets you excited about it.  Our host brought out his bagpipes, which needed some tuning on the spot, as evidenced by the donkey answering back from the stables below our feet.
  The fur suiters were out of suit, the beer was running low, but not the spirits as the music left the genera of techno remixes of Dota and went into Celtic and Celtic rock.  Aairsoft shenanigans continued, and the cool thing was to use the glow-stick bracelets to make a circular tail around the belt-loop.  It looked more like a glowing bulls-eye.  I had ANOTHER chicken thigh, this time a barbecued one.  Of course when I had messy saucy finger people decided it was time for names and contacts to be exchanged.  I WILL be getting a live journal and getting in touch with these people for future get together's.
   My friend was getting kind of tired, and since he had been the driver, and it was a standard which I did not know how to drive.  We said our goodbye's got some hugs and on the way out I noticed our host weeding his garden... It was after 1:00 in the morning by the way.  I had a brief exchange with him about the plants.  I knew what they all were, but almost did not believe my eyes and second guessed myself on identifying Wolf's Bane (Aconite, Monkshood) in his garden.  He uses it as a rub for sore muscles, despite knowing full well that if he were to lick his fingers, or get his preparation of the plant in a cut it could be the last mistake he ever makes.  The plant contains a neurotoxin effective enough to make a suitable arrow poison that will drop man or beast within a minute, even with just a cut.  He invited us back any time, expressing particular delight in my botanical and other various esoteric knowledge. 
  The drive back was primarily spent pinching ourselves to make sure that awesome of a party actually just happened.  I didn't get to really talk to or introduce myself to all the people that were there, I didn't get to pick the brains of those I did meet as well as I would have liked.  I was humbled by the good stories they had to share, and some day when the good relevant stories I have manage to come up I'll be able to entertain them as well.  Yes, it's a three and a half hour drive if I go there directly from where I live, but I'll be damned if it was not worth my time and money.  This was hosted for FREE!  I mean, it cost them money for food, and fuel, and beer, and everything else.  Next time I come I'm going to try and more than repay the hospitality I was shown.  I have NEVER felt so comfortable with a group of people I am meeting for the first time.  I felt welcomed, liked, and appreciated.  I never felt any stinginess or pressure, we were encouraged to help eat all the food and drink the soda and beer.  I stayed conscious of the welfare of his animals (like not using the sling-staff till the animals were stabled, and not to go ahead with gunpowder fun because of the burn ban.  People were working together to make sure the dogs did not get chicken bones which would have been bad for them, and it all worked out great!  It was just such a wonderful mix of being around people who shared an interest, were accepting, and at the same time new, to me at least.  Clearly these folks knew each other from other meetings but I didn't feel like an interloper or a third wheel.
  If you read all that... wow, you must be some kind of stalker or something.