Blog Title

The Anthrocon 2026 Post

2026-07-27T00:00:00Z

A few weeks late for the post, but another Anthrocon in the books! I had a wonderful time overall, and it was a great reminder of why this fandom is so incredible. Wanted to take a moment to give massive thanks to all my friends who made it such a wonderful experience, all the con staff and volunteers who make the con possible at all, and you for taking the time to read my silly little thoughts.

Events

I tended to stick to the larger events this time around, but had a really nice time!

The Jazz Big Band was incredible, and absolutely worth the wait to get in. I had a few friends performing, and just had a massive grin on my face the entire time. I'm such a fan of music events and so glad I got to see this one, always makes me want to try picking up an instrument. Perhaps I will!

In a similar vein, the orchestra performance was fabulous. A very nice mix of Stravinsky, Super Mario Galaxy, opera, and some other pieces I didn't recognize but still really enjoyed. I love watching people be good at things, and especially shoutout to the people playing their instruments in fursuit, that's gotta be so hard.

Floor Wars has been one of the main highlights of every Anthrocon I've been to, and they pulled out all the stops this time. The D20 for "random" music was fantastic, and particularly the cursed music; I've never seen a room light up that much when "Cotton-Eyed Joe" played before. If you haven't done so yet I strongly encourage you watch the recording, the dancers, the hosts, and AV really stepped it up this year.

The Fursuit Dance Competition was also incredible as always, the dancers did such an amazing job. This event and Floor Wars always make me feel so energized and wondering what it would be like to learn to dance, something I have not followed through on, but again perhaps some day! The Floor Guy subplot was also incredible, but I'll leave it at that to avoid spoilers. Once again, strongly recommend watching the recording if you haven't seen it.

Furry Logic put on a great escape room this year, would also strongly encourage checking that out if you ever see that a con! I went in with several puzzle hunt friends who were definitely over- qualified for this, and apparently we set the record time, not that I had much to do with that LOL. Really fun all the same, looking forward to doing Twisted Tails' at Furrydelphia!

Capitalism

The Dealer's Den was dangerous as always this year, definitely did my fair share of Partaking In Capitalism. Figured I'd show off the haul!

The definite highlight was this beautiful sign by CoyoticTrouble, which I still have to figure out how to hang up. I really love the idea of taking some generic piece of home decor and making it personal and furry, and hope I can find more similarly delightful pieces in the future!

Beyond that, I picked up three beautiful prints from Blind Coyote, a booth I always have minimal self control at. Those are Eclipse of the Crystals, Bleeding Colors, and See You Next Time, Space Cowboy. I am rapidly approaching the point of not having enough wall space for all of these, and I couldn't be happier.

I also picked up two books from the Fur Planet booth, Out of Position by Kyell Gold and Rafts by Utunu. I've been excited to pick up Rafts ever since I read Far Flung last year, and have since started it, it's very cute so far! Out of Position is one of the "furry classics" in my mind so figured I should learn my history and read it. It was good! Perhaps I'll write a more detailed post about the various furry books I've read, I've definitely been enjoying it!

I also picked up the Fox and Bird Hoodie from YKSOBA, which is a design I've been eyeing for a while, and then a few other miscellaneous items. All in all a good haul!

Food

As a former Pittsburgh local, I thought it might be nice to share some of my favorite places to eat around the con center.

I went to Condado twice, some of my favorite tacos I've ever had (I had it a lot as a college student).
I made the trek out to Shadyside once to meet some family members at Cafe Moulin (who did not know I was there for Anthrocon LOL), which is one of my favorite places to eat in all of Pittsburgh.
I went to Proper Brick Oven Tap Room the first night there, which is also one of my favorites. Really really good pizza!
On the Friday night I went out to The Yard in Market Square, my beloved. I'm still sad about the one in Shadyside closing even if I don't live there anymore.
On Saturday night I celebrated the 250th anniversary of our country with a Pittsburgh classic, Primanti Bros. Need to make the trek there once every visit, was good. The drunk duck cocktail was really big. I uh... no further comment.
On Sunday afternoon I went to Barcelona Wine Bar and shared a bunch of tapas with friends, which was so good. Definitely will be going back there, strongly recommend.

Introspection

Going to cons and seeing so many people doing so many cool things, be it artists in the dealers den, dancers in the competitions, fursuiters who really bring their characters to life, anyone running panels, or anyone else doing their thing to make the con unique and special, always makes me simultaneously incredibly happy and inspired to be part of such an incredible community and also somewhat uncomfortable with the fact that in a space so full of creativity... I haven't felt like I've had much to offer.

I've identified myself as a furry for over 10 years now, but I've never really stuck with any particular creative hobby that feels like my own or that I can share with the community. I don't think there's anything wrong with this, per se, but it does feel personally like there's something missing that I'm hoping I can find. It's part of why I started this blog in the first place, and part of why I've made an effort to make logic puzzles, or my short-lived stints at drawing and CTM mapmaking. I definitely find my writing style to be somewhat flat or matter-of-fact currently, but the hope is that by doing more of it I can find more of my own voice. And who knows, perhaps I can make something more out of these puzzles! Or pick up something completely new!

And I don't mean to be too hard on myself either. I've made so many wonderful friends through this community that have made my life so much better, and I hope (and believe!) that I've made their lives even a little bit better in return. If nothing else I certainly hope to keep that up, so thank you once again to every single friend who have made this con (and my life in general these past few years) so wonderful!

Closing

In any case, I think those are enough thoughts for now, it's already taken me 3 weeks to write this post as is x3. Take care, thanks again for reading, and I'll see you around next time! I have a few ideas for future blog posts I'm pretty excited about, so keep an eye out for those!

I Hosted a Party and Am Very Happy About It

2026-06-28T00:00:00Z

I did the thing! Perhaps the goal I was most excited to actually pull off, I finally hosted a get-together at my apartment, and it was so fun! Ended up having 9 people over, so 10 including me, absolutely smashing the original goal. I think it's significantly lowered the mental barrier towards doing things like this in the future, which was the real hope with this as a goal. Should be doing this more often going forward!

Some thoughts for others who were/are hesitating about doing something like this

If you're anything like I was and very scared to try this for a reason you can't place, honestly try just picking a date, polling some friends for interest, and if you get a critical mass of like 4 people then make actual invitations and send them around (or don't! can also just send texts).

Great, now you have a date and presumably a place (your home), and importantly some amount of external accountability (if you haven't gathered I benefit from this x3). Turns out you don't need too much more. I ordered pizza from a local place and grabbed some snacks/alcohol from the local grocery store. I ended up spending $200 after getting way too much of everything, but you can definitely get away with less (and many people are down to bring snacks/drinks of their own).

I found you don't even need to have anything in particular to do. I had some board games and a switch in case people wanted to play something, but we ended up just sitting around and talking the whole time, which was also great. Would strongly recommend getting some floor cushions—floor time is good for the soul, especially with alcohol. Otherwise picked a few chill albums and played them on a bluetooth speaker, which also helps. It was mostly the albums I mentioned on the previous post, so you should go read that one. :P

Also I didn't take any pictures because I'm a fool, but you should.

Wrapping up

But yeah, great times all around! The rest of the weekend was also very fun, with two friends staying over after the party, a nice morning and brunch, and then the NYC pride parade on Sunday.

That's all from me for now! Until next time ^^

Furry Day Update 2026

2026-06-21T00:00:00Z

It's the funny furry day! I unfortunately did not do much to celebrate, but things have been going on regardless and thought it might be nice to write about it.

Goals

I suppose the first thing is that I've accomplished some of the goals from my previous post! In particular, my bedroom now has a nightstand and bookshelf and my windowsill has been cleared off; I got a small cute filing basket and have sorted through my loose papers; I went through my T-shirts and decided on a suitably small subset to keep; and I cleared off my countertop! Still more to go, but very happy with the progress here.

Also going to try to accomplish an older goal and actually host something at my apartment next weekend, will update here if that ends up actually happening!

New Art!

Other than goals, I got two new pieces of pride art for this year! The first is a YCH icon by nandovicious on bsky, which people might recognize as my current bsky and discord PFPs! Repping the ace and MLM pride flags because... yeah.

The second piece is still technically WIP but mostly finalized at this point, and it's a "wild pride icon" by xmaveria on bsky! I picked a gator both as a tribute to growing up in Florida and as a tribute to my wonderful boyfriend, who is not a gator but does love them all the same. Once again repping ace and MLM! I love what they did with the flag the background for this one.

At some point I'll figure out a good way to get a gallery page for all of my commissions on the main site... that's a project for another day though haha.

Music

I've been trying to get into more furry music as of late, and after watching Mostly Mammals perform at FWA, particularly their rendition of "Fox Boy" by Whsprs, I've been listening to a lot of stuff by Whsprs, and definitely recommend both Sad Drunk and Needy and Holoplankton.

Spotify's algoritm also recommended GABUISLOST to me, in particular the albums Friends and Partners, both of which are wonderful. Would strongly recommend these too!

And then finally have also been listening to you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love by Olivia Rodrigo and Dancing On The Wall by MUNA. Lots of good music as of late!

Other Musings

At some point I'd like to use this blog for more than just life updates, perhaps do some deeper dives into something I'm interested in and actually make an argument/do some research. Potentially seems fun, although not totally sure what I'd write about yet (maybe math contest design since I still actively write for one and do have opinions, even if my heyday of competing has long passed).

Otherwise been playing Nine Sols, which is a great game so far, absolutely love the art, characters, story, and combat. Still in the relatively early game, excited to see how things continue to ramp up!

That's all for now, until next time! ^^

Some More Goals

2026-06-03T00:00:00Z

I thought of some new things I'd like to do this year! In no particular order:

Get a bookshelf and a nightstand for my bedroom and find a place for everything that is currently on my windowsill.
Get a small filing cabinet or at least something to organize my loose pieces of paper I don't want to throw out but also don't need to be loose.
Do a proper Marie Kondo-ing of my current clothes, in particular all my T-shirts that I don't wear anymore.
Fully clear off my countertop and find a place for everything that's just been sitting there.
Get my own car insurance plan, and properly transfer my registration. Also get a driver's license that actually functions as a real ID.
Get a cheap keyboard or otherwise some instrument and start learning to play it.
Start keeping my VR headset charged so I can play VRChat.

The general theme for these is actually going out and getting the easy things that would make my life/space better. Also finding a place for the things I already have. And VR I guess... many things to do.

But yeah that's all for now, back to it!

Star Battle 5 - Action at a Distance

2026-05-25T00:00:00Z

The Puzzle

For the first time since making this blog, I have a new logic puzzle! This one's a Star Battle, the fifth one I've created. You can solve online here, and for the rules:

Place a star into some of the cells.
Stars cannot be horizontally, vertically or diagonally adjacent.
The number at the top of the grid indicates how many stars are in each row, column and outlined region.

(Solve Online)

Spoilers Below! Constructor Notes

It was pretty tricky for me to get this puzzle to work—it took about 2 hours to construct. I had various ideas for deductions that involved using regions on different corners of the board, which ultimately earned this puzzle its title of "Action at a Distance."

This is probably my hardest star battle to date, largely driven by the start, with the intended break-in spanning three corners of the board.

For some other random tidbits:

In an earlier version of the puzzle, I incorrectly deduced that R10C2 was not a star at some point in the middle, and from that alone was able to solve almost all of the puzzle with only 6/10 of the regions drawn in. I thought the logic for that was cool, so the bottom region exists basically to make that happen.
In a similar vein to the above, without drawing the borders in for three of the four regions in the bottom right, you can deduce the location of all of the stars with the exception of a few pairs in the bottom right; the shapes of these reasons were an attempt to disambiguate these pairs while giving minimal other information.
It took several tries to get a working version of the bottom left region. I kept accidentally picking shapes that caused a contradiction in the top right of the board, my own theme coming back to bite me!

A Long-Overdue Reflection on Goals

2026-05-12T00:00:00Z

What is this?

As those who have followed my Bluesky for a while would know, I like to publicly announce some goals at the start of the year and then see how I do by the end of the year. After a lackluster performance in 2025 I decided to try a different format for 2026 where I set goals to achieve by the end of January and February, with the plan to evaluate them in March and see what I wanted to do for the rest of the year...

... It's not March anymore, but better late than never I suppose! Let's get into it.

Goals

Apartment stuff

I'd like to decorate my apartment more, particularly my bedroom.

By end of Jan, I'd like to order some prints of comms I've gotten.

By end of Feb, I'd like to have said prints hung up in my room, and also have a bookshelf/ nightstands put together.

I have decorated my living room a bit more: I got myself a bookshelf and put together the Lego bonsai that my dad got me for Christmas. It does improve the vibes!

My room is still rather unfortunate, basically being a bed and then a mess of things on the windowsill. I haven't ordered prints yet (although I did order a jigsaw puzzle of my favorite commission, which I'm very excited to put together and hang up once it's done!), should get on that soon. Maybe writing this will get me to actually do it! We shall see...

Hosting stuff

I'd like to host more get-togethers at my apartment.

By end of Jan, I'd like to host a 4+ person event.

By end of Feb, I'd like to host a 6+ person event (separate from the first).

No specific goals for what the events will look like, casually hanging out is good enough!

I've had a few 3 person gatherings, but nothing of the sort that I meant by this. I need to get on that, just had a mental block towards doing it.

NYC stuff

I'd like to see more of NYC, as well as more outside of NYC (just generally get out more).

By end of Jan, I'd like to find two restaurants I like that I hadn't eaten at prior

By end of Feb, I'd like to pick a neighborhood I haven't spent much time in and explore, and go somewhere outside the city

I have done all of these! Found several restaurants I like a lot, explored the West Village (and others) more, and gone hiking several times, as well as some other vacations!

Doing stuff on weeknights

I'd like to get better at hanging out with friends on weeknights.

Jan and Feb goals are to have done 2 and 5 things with friends on a mon-thurs night. Even a dinner is fine, just want to get out there!

I did do this, and am generally pretty happy with my weeknights. Puzzled pint, random dinners, playing Pump it Up, all fun times!

Cooking stuff

I'd like to cook more, and healthier/with greater variety

Jan goal is to find two new recipes that seem interesting and make them

Feb goal is to find three more, at least one of which involving beans (they're so good for you it's ridiculous)

I still don't cook as much as I'd like, but I have technically achieved these. Shoutout to The Plant Slant for the easy recipes and the beans.

Exercise stuff

I'd like to exercise more, particularly in the morning

Jan goal is to go to the gym in the morning before work three times, and to the climbing gym near me at least once

Feb goal is to go to the gym ten times, at least five of which are in the morning before work

I did not hit these goals in January and February, but I've been decent about working out regularly (simple dumbell exercises, and then Pump It Up + Beat Saber for cardio). Have not gone climbing yet, but am going with a friend tomorrow!

Creative stuff

I'd like to dedicate more time to creative things

Jan goal is to create a publicly-viewable place to organize such things (probably a website)

Feb goal is to write at least three puzzles, write something (probably blog post style), and make something in a game I like (host a "jam" for myself)

I made the website, and this blog is a bit late but now I've done that too! I've written some logic puzzles and some drafts for some hunt puzzles! Need to yell at the wolfy to stop being homophobic and actually make LAF hunt happen.

Didn't make anything in a game, spent too long locked in on Blue Prince oops. Perhaps I'll actually make another CTM sometime.

Furry art stuff

I'd like to get more art with friends, for real this time

Jan goal is to make the MITMH comm actually happen this year

Feb goal is to have something else to get art commemorating (and then do it)

Once I have each of these I'd like to print and frame them as well

I have unfortunately once again failed to do either of these. Will bump the mystery hunt comm chat to see if we can get anything done here.

Outstanding goals

Just as a concrete list for my own future reference, here are some things that I would still like to do.

Print some commissions, including:
Get MITMH art
Get art for something else (FWA?)
Host an actual get-together at my apartment (ideally multiple!)
Do some morning workouts, but this requires me to fix my sleep schedule first
Check out the climbing gym near me instead of going to the one further away in Manhattan
Make something creative in a game I like, perhaps a small CTM or Celeste map or Geometry Dash level, who knows

Takeaways

What I was hoping for with these goals were attainable milestones towards things that I think will broadly improve my life. I've been okay at accomplishing these, but far from amazing, which I think is somewhat reflective of the general state of self-/life-improvement in 2026.

Not to say things are bad! The baseline is quite good and I'm happy with where I am, but there's still many things I can do to make things even better, so here's to that!