Holidays come, and holidays go, sometimes with presents, and sometimes with snow.

No white stuff here, but there is presents! Well, to be more exact, I have received presents. AL, thanks for the card, it's lovely. You did so have reindeer! Ha! *hugs* Leif, thanks for the color versions of those pics, they're really great. Love 'em.

*takes a deep breath, and starts running around in circles, squealing in glee* Thank you thank you thank you Kishma, Tanamin, and Ed! They're so damn cooool! Of course I love figurine-type things, and you're so right, they're -really- well done! They're so awesome! By Kaz standards ;D - almost perfect! I'm gonna give you guys such a hug when I see you! Thank you!

For those of you wondering why there's a minotaur spazzing out, the above wondrous people sent me a Solstice gift of a collectible/toy figure of a World of Warcraft Tauren Shaman (he's fricken' huuuuuuge! Woot!) and a Narnian minotaur. I'd been drooling over those since I'd seen pictures of them. Happy Kaz.

Now, in regards to my minotaur panel at Further Confusion 2006, what's pissing me off.

As most of you know, I was planning on hosting a minotaur panel at the coming convention in January. I emailed the events person back in August, got a few replies, and then nothing. Well, I operated on the assumption that it was going to happen, since the letters had given me that impression. As such, I've been gathering shtuff for the panel. The announcement that the schedule of events would be coming out happened a little bit ago, and I was thinking "Hmm. Haven't heard much out of them. I'll email and make sure it's happening, and ask about details again. You see, I hadn't really gotten any details, though I had asked about them. Little things like date, time, and anything I needed to get. There's no such info on the website, just "Want to do a panel? Mail the events people!" on the website. Which I had done. Admittedly, I probably should have poked them before this, especially since it's the first time I'd even thought about doing something like it, but I thought sure they'd send me info. Especially after the four or so letters I'd written back and forth with one of the Folks-Apparently-In-Charge. Even posted a "remember me?" on the forum. To which I got reply saying mail the person I'd mailed originally again. Which I did. A week goes by. No response. And in the meantime, the schedule is posted. You guessed it. No minotaur panel listed. I posted another "Hey, remember me?" on the forum. This got a response by one of the head honchos, saying send info, oh, and by the way, you need at least 2 panelists.

...Klaheken hlesss nir ca-! *ahem*

I am not pleased. Where the hell am I going to get another minotaur panelist at this late date? None of the minotaur-folks I know (and I say "know" as in "know of") are even -going- to FC this year! So I've been prepping for nothing. I wager I'll get an email back saying "So sorry, there was a breakdown in communication, so busy and all, terribly awful inconvenience, won't happen again, but you don't have 2 panelists anyway, so it won't be scheduled, try again next year" sort of thing. *snorts*

Minotaur's luck strikes again.

Well, in other news, school is out, finals are over, *whew* and I think I did fairly well on them. Pretty happy with that, I already know I got an 85% on my Anatomy and Physiology final. Won't know on the others for a while yet. I'm all registered, and yeesh, is it a lousy schedule this semester. All 15 units of it. As follows;

Comparative Pathology and Pharmacology
Animal Care and Management II
Applied Animal Care
Animal Health Enrichment
Principles of Microbiology
Clinical Procedures I

...erg.

Don't even get me started on being stuck working in retail during the holiday season. I'll spare y'all the horror stories. *ponders* I get to spend Christmas Eve in traffic school from 7:45 a.m. (Meaning I'll be getting up at 6:30. Blarg.) until 4, then run home, hop into uniform, and drive to work, then be submerged in the insanity from 6p.m. to 10. Joyous.

However, I have received another gift this year. Masquerade. She's a mouse. She was part of the lab animals section of one of my classes, and if my mother hadn't graciously allowed (bent under the weight of big brown eyes and pleading) me to bring her home, she'd have been snake food after the semester was over. And she's too sweet to be eaten. See?

Masquerade
And again.
Last one!

Also, I managed to get a couple scans of art-things! Though unfortunately not of any of the ones I really wanted to show you all. One's just a toss-away sketch, though I liked the face, and the other was done at work... as the more conventional drawing of the santa-hatted minotaur looking grumpy (I was at work, gimme a break.) can clearly illustrate. The tribalish design thingy was actually a mistake that, since I was using pen, I couldn't erase, so proceeded to try to cover up in a fancy manner. I kinda liked it, and noodled the other two versions. I think that they may be the basis for my next tattoo. Not the finished product, obviously, but an idea in a direction to go. Maybe.

Lounging minotaur sketch
Tribal-minotaurs... and a scrooge minotaur.

Happy Holidays everyone!