The Lair of The Dark Knight

Damon's plane should be touching down in the UK in less than 30 hours; the excitement is building. :3

Friday is gonna be busy for us, what with us moving in on that day too and also with a trip into Leeds city centre (including a meal at Nandos) for some essentials.

The really interesting (from my perspective) thing is that this will be the first place that I'm actually renting, as I've been living with friends and family prior to this.

As mentioned before we probably wont have Internet access for a couple of weeks due to the usual crappy timescales that broadband connections take in the UK.

In work news we've been moved up in the world, literally. Yes our team has been moved to the third floor instead of the first. Whilst this makes absolutely no difference to the job we do it does mean that we have had a say in how we would like our desks set up. I feel a lot more comfortable here, especially as I have an actual desk as opposed to a carosel.

I wouldn't normally ask for this, but I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me collect damonblackpaw from Manchester Airport next Friday morning (around 9am)? He'd like to bring a lot of stuff with him (2 action packers, a suit case, and two other bags) to save on shipping charges (as it's cheaper to pay the extra baggage allowance). This would be way too much luggage to take on public transport.

I am more than willing to pay the entire cost of fuel for both the entire journey that you will make that day, including the journey for you from/to your own home. A bottle of your favourite tipple will also be thrown in.

For those of you who can't (and to be honest I don't expect that anyone will be able to help, given that it's Friday morning) I would very much like it someone could give me a round about figure of how much it will cost to get an airport shuttle from Manchester back to Leeds (about 60 miles).

Many thanks.

32 days. :D

That is all.

Oh man, where does time go?

Work
Generally things are going OK. Working OOH is good. As expected I'm really not in the mood to do anything whilst I'm working, which is only understandable considering the 12hr shifts. The weeks off (one out of every three) are a $DEITY send; I've really been able to crack on with stuff during them.

For example: r4nger5 and I have been able to get the pilot episode of R4nger5 TV done and online. We haven't got as much feedback as we had expected but I suppose that's not surprising consider that it is a pilot.

Fursuiting

$DEITY'S-SON, I really want to go fursuiting. The last two times I've been fursuiting this year have been the LF meet at the end of March and when frost_t_wolf and shivonhusky came over. Fursuiting nao plz. XD
Ah well, CF is just around the corner. :)

Music

Skindred has been filling my ears with awesome recently. <3

London

I am so missing the LondonFurs furmeets. I really wish I could go, but every single LF meet falls on a day when I am working, and with ConFuzzled and EuroFurence taking up my holiday allowance for the rest of the year I can see it being next year when I get to attend an LF meet.

Does anyone know if there's anything planned to happen with furs in London that falls on the weekend before the tri-weekly meets?

PnP RPGs

I really want to get into running a weekly Pen and Paper RPG once I move into my own place in Leeds, but I'm actually having trouble finding a group to join. I probably just need to find a group of people I can game comfortably with and just invite them over. Or maybe something can be done via Skype... *ponderponder*

Damon

OMG Damon's moving soon! *dance* ^_^

And that's it for this post really.

What with the arrival of damonblackpaw in the UK next year I've been looking into an alternative living unit. My current flatmate doesn't really want another person in the flat, so I'll be moving out before Damon moves here.

I'd absolutely love to buy a house, but even with my impending pay rise for my Out of Hours job (putting me near £20K a year) I still cannot afford the £80K+ mortgage for a decent house near to where I work.
My only alternatives are renting a house or New Build Homebuy.

Renting is OK but it's often short term (six months) and I'd rather not go through the rigmarawl of dealing with a landlord and reapplying all the time; I'd also like some freedoms that most landlords don't allow.

The New Build Homebuy seems like a better option. I mortgage for a 25% share of the house and pay a reduced rent until I've paid off the property, with the option of increasing my rent if I get more money, or buying more of house in chunks if I get a windfall. I'd get a new, but unfurnished house that I am ultimately in control of; repairs fall down to me but I can do whatever the hell I want with it. And once I reach the end of the rent agreement I will have bought the property outright!

I'm not going to start looking seriously at places until later this year as I want to amass some savings first, but I am going to put out feelers to some Homebuy agents about the costs of the New Build scheme.

damonblackpaw and I are currently in Montana after a two day drive from Boulder Creek, through Nevada, Idaho, and then into northern Montana. We're staying with Damon's parents.

There is snow EVERYWHERE.

Don't berieve¹ me? Observe these pictures:






We'll be staying here until Wednesday next week (6th Feb) when we head back to Portland. I should be around Portland for the 7th Feb and then I'll be flying back to the UK on the 8th Feb.

In other news, I want to see Cloverfield badly. :D

¹Spelling error is intentional.

In five weeks time I'll be in Portland, OR (will have arrived seven hours earlier, at 5pm PST). I'll probably be in bed with damonblackpaw too. ^^

I'll be in and round Portland for six days before Damon and I leave for FC on the 23rd Jan (Wednesday). We're gonna be driving down from Portland to FC, hopefully on the I-5 (or Route 101 if I-5 is affected by adverse weather), setting off early in the morning and probably arriving late afternoon/evening.

Just in case you're wondering I'll only be taking one fursuit with me to FC, Graafen. The reason for this will be kinda obvious if you read my journal regularly, but just in case you've missed it I'll be collecting my husky fursuit (Radinov) at FC and it'll be a pain brining three fursuits back to the UK unless I ship one of them.

Speaking of Radinov, the DTD was received by the fursuit maker yesterday so all that remains for me to do is to send the last of the money owed (which happens on Tuesday 18th Dec).

After FC Damon and I are planning to speak sometime with dark_fang and ysengrin, and then we'll be heading up to see his parents in Montana, then finally back to Portland before I fly home.

I'm actually looking forward to meeting Damon's parents. He's told them a lot about me and they seem pretty cool about our relationship. :)

And I guess that's it for now. Roll on January! :D

*wag*

Yeah it's been on year (give or take a few hours) since damonblackpaw and I got mated, and I have to say that it's been a wonderful one too. Damon really is the most wonderful person I have ever been mated to; he's such a romantic and sweet little wuffle and I'm proud to call him mine. :)

Happy anniversary, sweetheart. I love you with all of my heart and soul. :)

I spent a good deal of time last night talking to damoncanine and dark_fang about the future. I do want to move to the US as soon as I can, but I don't want to rush into things.

To make sure that I'm happy with how things are there (I'm sure I will be but there's no harm in making sure) I plan to spend three weeks with damoncanine and another three weeks with dark_fang and ysengrin, just to make sure that I can deal with living in the US and that we can live comfortably together. Ideally spending three months there would be better, but I can't take a career break and I don't want to have to give up my job here until I can move to the US properly.

So yeah, I'm happy because things are moving forward. I'm happy because I have a loving and caring pack whom I love and care for also. I'm happy because I have (IMO) the sexiest, most awesomely caring, loving, compassionate, romantic, amazing wuffie mate who fills my heart and soul with joy, whom I love with every ounce of my being. :D

I also feel very lucky and proud to have such awesome friends who have helped me out through my life. You all know who you are and I am so thankful and happy that I can call you my friends. :)

Thank you all. :)

This is my favourite picture (of myself) from FC this year.

( Graafen and Scaborous )

In other news my mate damoncanine is pretty ill after last night. I've given him a cup of tea and he's trying to sleep the rest of the sickness off.

I'll be heading back to the UK tomorrow. My flight leaves from MCO at 18:15 so we'll probably be leaving here at 15:00. I'll be back in the UK (Manchester airport) at 9:55am GMT.

P.S. lusting_lioness, I've got some twinkies for ya.