The King In The Black Limousine

There's very little to report this week - the weather has been too cold to want to do anything, while the need to save money has made staying in the house easy. This has meant that I have been particularly productive in terms of writing though - since 30 December I have written three short stories for SoFurry (it's a shame it's down at the moment) and edited one for submission to an anthology. I'm hoping to submit a second story by the end of the month too.

I got another bureaucratic letter yesterday and this has sent me into a spiral of funk today, the whole process seems to be never-ending. It seems like it's just a simple form they want, so hopefully I can complete that later in the week. It did mar what was an excellent day with Kamsirius though, where we got to take some fursuit photos with his inflatables (after I had forgotten my fursuit body when I visited him just before Christmas) and have some other fun with my pink husky too. I had let him keep it for the three weeks between my visits, which he was happy with, while we chatted about a range of things including the struggles of living in Berlin. It was interesting to find out that the authorities here are granting citizenship within nine months, which was much less time than I was expecting. It is something to consider, even though I am still pretty strongly leaning towards returning back to the UK. The cold weather there this week has really made me worried about the house to the point of paranoia, even if my father is still keeping an eye on things. Reading through my journals from this time last year, it's annoying that I was saying exactly the same things. I wish I could just make a decisive decision rather than prevaricating.  Having said that, it is a big decision to make, so maybe I am being unfair on myself.

While I was at Kamsirius's place, Notefox invited me to the Spandau Stammi as he was going, but of course I couldn't make it due to having other plans. To be honest, I'd forgotten it takes place, such is my lack of engagement with it. There's going to be a bowling meet on Thursday week with the Fureigners, which is a nice initiative. I don't think I can make it as it's a mite spendy plus it's right before I return to the UK for three weeks, but it's good to see a greater diversity of events. I think BrewDog will still happen this week too, which I am also happy about. I have really fallen out of love with them though and they seem to be on the skids - six bars have closed this month including Bradford, Huddersfield and Frankfurt, while their range of beer has significantly reduced in quality and interest. Furthermore, they seem to be more focused in mega bars and mass produced beer, which is generally poorer too. And all this is without the much publicised issues they are experiencing, largely through their own fault.

The rise of shits like Trump, Musk and Zuckerberg is also causing concern, not least because Meta has now said being gay and trans is a mental health issue. The permitted attacks on minority groups is going to get significantly worse over the next four years and it's distressing to see many of my friends in the firing line. Being non-binary, this also includes me, while I fear the gay community itself is next in their sights. I find it ironic that being LGBTQ+ is seen as being a mental health issue when believing in an invisible all-powerful mystical sky man is not, but then we seem to be living in topsy-turvy land right now. I would never denigrate anyone's belief, nor stop their right for believing it, but as soon as you impinge your own values on someone else, that is where I draw the line. It's already becoming exhausting and Trump's presidency has yet to begin, so I dread to think how difficult the next four years will be. We just have to stick together and support each other, despite the adversity, and hope we can come out the other side. As for Meta itself, Facebook logged me out of my account in August and wanted official government ID which I have refused to give them. I won't be going back, even if I do miss some of the conversations there, particularly from the SE Asian furry scene. However, like Twitter, I haven't really missed it despite fearing I would. I am probably hopelessly addicted to social media anyway so toning down the number of apps I use is for the best. The only solace I have is that work is so light that there isn't much else to do, which is why I have been hunting for new clients this week as well. I'm hoping to get something over the line there soon too.