Three days before Christmas, this is not a good feeling. Granted, it's largely because I can't get to the gym at the moment. I live with my Dad and it's not fair for him to drive out in all the snow, late at night, to pick me up. I haven't drunk that much but little increments make a big wuff. I had been making progress a fortnight ago - I had lost some weight - but I probably have piled it back on again. I wish I could stop drinking and nibbling.

I guess the sluggishness and inertia of this time of year is taking its toll too. Clean trousers are always a little tight due to the contraction in the wash. Thing is the fleeces are a little small too. I hate my belly :-(

Ah well, guess all I can really do is sort it in January. But I have a special piece of attire (see posts below) that I need to fit into this Christmas - I just hope its stretchy and doesn't show off my hideous belly too much...

Hexagons or Octagons?

I prefer octagons myself, they just look nicer and more rounded. Hexagons look a little evil.

ADDENDUM: In light of subsequent developments, I have since realised the tesselating properties of hexagons above octagons. I therefore wish to apologise to all hexagons for accusing them of being evil. What I meant was "evil" in the context of da kidz, therefore meaning amazingly brilliant and rad. I hope no misunderstanding has come of this.

The Sheffield Meet went well - free pork pies are always a bonus - particularly when there are sausage rolls to go along with them. There was not enough of that moist gooey jelly in them though. You could drop a bit of dog food in them but that would be weird - and my hair is shiny and glossy enough as it is. Still, at least you could trace around its form for the big tapestry drawing thing that is a Sheffield tradition. That thing isn't great unless you can draw. I can only really draw stickfurs :-(

Kudos to Sil for organising it all and indeed for putting up with my gentle ribbing and sumptuous banter. As is often the case, I was giddy for the first hour and suffered a bit of a comedown. I was definitely funnier and better company in the first hour, I feel. Still, you can only chase your tail for so long - the pink often burns my eyes.

I like Ye Olde Queen's Headeeeee as a pub. The staff are really friendly and we had some nice banter going with them. Plus they serve Warsteiner, which is always good. The meet was modestly attended but it was great catching up with some furs I haven't spoken to for a while. These included Torque Tiger, Dougal and Sora. Big shouts out to you people *waves*.

Some of the food was a little suspicious, particularly the sticky Bombay mix stuff. I spent most of my time tesselating things too. Either that or making chevrons out of pound coins leading up to different beers. It was fun.

After some drinking, Patter and I headed back to Leeds to meet up with Wolfie. I started a conversation with a mother and 14 year old girl upon spying the Build A Bear Bunny they had bought at Meadowhall. They were a little bemused but they were from Barnsley, which is where I am going next week. They gave me a lowdown on all the exciting stuff there is to do there. Useful conversation really. I was a little tiddly though so said hello to everyone who was walking past me, both on the train and in the street. People are quite taken aback when you say hi to them, I notice.

Patter and I grabbed a Guinness where we were harrassed by a bald bloke with runny snot on his lip. He was weird. He had to be sat down next to a condament set. We then went up to see Wolfie where we shared German Bratwurst (ha - I got it right today :P) and Knobibrot. A quick continental beer and chat with some drunk Leeds fans later and we went home to watch Wife Swap and had some Dry Cider.

Today was spent watching an inept Middlesbrough side lose to our local rivals, Newcastle United, on TV. We ate loads of Celebrations, Roses and also went for a curry. The snow meant we couldn't really do anything so Mr Wolfie, Mrs Wolfie and my partner Wolfie all stayed in the warmth and shared some banter. And Heineken. It was a good day :-)

Tomorrow will be the third anniversary of me becoming an active member of the Furry Fandom. It will also be the day of the Sheffield Meet, one of the highlights of the Christmas period. Time to party :-)

Anyone else going to be in Sheffield tomorrow?

I am thinking of a festive colour change - but from pink to which colour? And why?

I have been thinking about the possibility of doing stand-up comedy or writing a comedy show for a while now. I seem to be able to make people laugh in social settings, I just don't know whether I am good enough to do it properly. I have ideas for a show and now I have the time to pursue it. Hmm, dunno...

Had an excellent night at one of the inaugural Middlesbrough furmeets this evening. Met up with Zash, Icey and Amaranth for a meal at the Toby Carvery and then for a few drinks in town. I have been crying out for furs in the local vicinity and tonight was the night that showed how great things can be in the town. It's a shame that I will probably be leaving in the New Year, what with current circumstances. It's also a shame that we didn't get a stronger community together a little earlier.

The Toby Carvery meal - where you could choose from three different meats, full veg and yorkshire pudding, with potential to refill for free - was excellent value at £5 per head. I also made numerous jokes about the Bottomless Custard Jug they were offering - particularly regarding the literal interpretation of this. After all, a bottomless jug would imply all the custard would fall out, unless the jug was in the shape of a statue of a person with the bottom cut off for some reason.

After the waitress gave me some patronising stares, we did a mini and impromptou pub crawl.

We went into The Camel's Hump - a docker's pub turned student bar - and had some cream cheese and chive Seabrooks. The bar maintained its original drabness yet had character too. It was a nice place to drink, albeit a little spartan. I had been meaning to go there for a while. It looked like 1978 in every way.

We also headed to the halls of residence, where we had some japes, including leaving threatening messages for people with green highlighter and also stealing raisin bran because it was too healthy to be in a student kitchen. We then went to Mohan's Bar where Amaranth tried Guinness for the first time and Oriental Rib McCoy's.

The night was a really chilled affair (even though Zash ate the last sausage from the sausage truck lady) and an excellent philip after the miserable weak I have had. I may be going to Darlington to meet some more local furs on Monday - why does all this happen after you commit to leave a place? Still, tonight was excellent fun and I hope to repeat it real soon.

Sometimes the smallest furmeets are the best :-)