So the other day I turned 32. I don't celebrate my birthday anymore, not since I turned 25 and got a little car insurance rate decrease (what else is there to celebrate after 21, birthday-wise, until I get to around 50?). I just feel it's a bit narcissistic and self-congratulatory, especially since I didn't do anything particular to deserve a celebration except cheat death. And usually I manage to scrape through the day without more than a cursory call and card from my mother/sister/grandmother and perhaps one or two old friends sending a Facebook wall post...which I do appreciate, of course, but I thank them and try to forget about it quickly, since birthdays are for kids (in my humble opinion). But this year my friends up here in Murrland surprised me at my apartment for my birthday with a cake and ice cream and a gift-card to Victoria's Secret. Because I totes shop there so much :P Oryx, Ferian, m4, Kinshasa, Fawks Beaumont, and Kellogg all colluded (probably under Oryx's direction) to catch me off guard after I got home from work. The one time I didn't answer my front door with a pistol in my hand, too, luckily! I really didn't suspect it, which isn't a likely scenario; I was too concerned with picking up a delivery and such to think about it. But we hung out and ate Vietnamese and it was a nice break, even though I was a bit uncomfortable with all my friends seeing my messy messy apartment. I do feel really lucky to have nice friends; It's pretty much the only reason I'm continuing to live up here in the cold, wet Balto/DC area.

I had a temporary roommate for a couple of weeks leading up to my birthday. Kellogg Collie needed a place to crash until he left for Oklahoma after his lease expired, and was having trouble getting anyone to let him stay over, so I let him crash on the couch. I haven't had a roommate since like 1999 or something, but it was only for a short time and I'm hardly in my apartment lately anyway. There was a total of 8 fursuits in that apartment with him there, although we only got them out once to take some pictures with them. I would've liked to shoot more, but I'm always so busy or tired in the evenings I have trouble getting my druthers to put on a suit and operate my studio. He can always come back over another time. Overall it was minimal damage and hassle having him over; I thought it would be more of a burden on me, but I couldn't just let him sleep in his car for 2 weeks. Although I've abolished any doubts about whether I would want to move in with a permanent roommate anytime soon... It puts a bit of a damper on me being able to walk around my apartment naked :(

I've been devoting a lot of time and money (many dozens of hours and many hundreds of dollars) lately to the upcoming Playa del Fuego coming up at the end of this month. This time is 10 times as planned-out as it was last time, and costs are running almost as high as tempers. There are only a small core group of people involved in the planning and it's hard not to have people stepping on each other' toes. After this PDF I would really like to have a final budget breakdown, along with at least a vague list of money/items/time that was donated by certain people published just to show the wild disparity. Our theme camp is planning to have multiple events to the public - Espresso bar (with 2 baristas, several fursuiting waiters, several specialty drinks, etc); a 'trattoria' (with more fursuiting waiters, unique hors d'oevres, etc), and a club (with custom-built liquor bar, unique mixed drinks, shots, and yes, fursuiting bartenders). I hope to get at least some great photos of all of it. No project burn this time, but at least we have theme camp space.

I got my amateur radio license (ham radio license) recently, ostensibly for the purpose of keeping in communications at PDF when I'm on my volunteer shifts. I already drilled a hole in my truck roof and installed an antenna mount... it's an old truck and I've damaged it worse without even trying, so it was a flippant decision. One more expensive electronics-based jag. It kind of makes me want to find all my old CB stuff back home and bring it up here as well.

Also coming up is FurAffinity: United (this weekend!), the Chesapeake Challenge, where our Critters group is going to be running the lunch rest stop, and then Anthrocon in June/July.