The Rat's Nest

Rain took me to Blackstar Canyon this evening and we got a fright.It was past twilight and getting quite dark.That, combined with the cold and complete silence made for an eerie atmosphere. We were walking down a decaying bitumen when I came upon the first word: "Putting." Being a curious rat, I naturally eagerly walked further to see if there was more. The next word was "Rats" which both intrigued me and spooked me: why would anyone out here be picking on me? Word followed word, forming the phrase you see above. Te first letter of each word was emphasised. It was at that point that I almost begged Rain to take me back. I eventually decided I wanted to carry on and the rest of the words were illegible from the cracks in the road but the next word looked like "Torture." I was frankly spooked, but we kept going, until Rain came across a Detroit D (he originally came from Detroit). By then we figured we'd seen enough. On the way back I figured out the words were forming an acronym: "PRIVATE," presumably for private property. I was a little less spooked when I realised that, because "Rats" was just there to form the acronym, but I don't think either of us were in the mood to explore further by then.

Here are a few comments I typed up while I didn't have an internet connection...

At the airport

I was so cute! I got tagged and numbered for a time and motion study on passengers so I'm officially an experimental rat now. puffs out furry chest in pride And then when I got redirected to another desk for check-in and I scurried through a maze even though there was apparently a direct route. Now I'm at the departure gate, waiting for my plane and wishing I had an internet connection so I could post this straight away. :/

In transit

I am weak. I tried to rise above it, but still I fall prey to those tired ratty stereotypes. I swear I checked over the movies on offer carefully, but still there was nothing as appealing as another rewatching of Ratatouille. This is such a masterful movie. Pixare refused to compromise their creative vision; not for Disney, not even to make it more commercially accessible. It seems they paid for it in the lack of merchandising tie-in—at least in Australia—but who can doubt the love they lavished on the movie? And I believe that it was still a success commercially, which is the main thing.

And here's something I typed up right now...

rainhopperroo and Waggs Wolf took their dog for a walk so I got to go for walkies too. ^_^ They took me to Irvine Regional Park where we trekked about enough to wear out the poor dog. The rat may share photos with you later.

I've always wanted to be able to fill this out. ^_^



create your own personalized map of the USA
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Well, Marko's paw-holding (and tail-raising) tour of America has drawn to a close. It's nice to be back in front of a familiar computer and familiar heat. (It's not actually excessively hot today, which is good. But I'll never complain about the heat again. cryoyank was right.) But, god, I'm going to miss you guys. I've left pieces of my heart in America and I'll have to come back for them.

Before going, I speculated that this trip might break me, giving me an opportunity to rebuild myself. It didn't. Further, several people seemed to be quite taken by this humble rat from Australia. It's easy to dismiss my Australian fans, but Americans would not be so easily taken in. ;) It leaves me wandering if maybe there's more to me than I think. I shall have to meditate on that later.

In the mean time, I have been in transit for 34 hours (counting all the waiting in airports and arriving ridiculously early because it's an international flight) and I'm a smelly rat. I'm going to go have a shower.

My first impression of New York has held: New York is big. Maybe too big for a little rat like me. And the biting cold did nothing to make me feel welcome. Without rapidtrabbit's help, it would have been hopeless. You can find more detailed reports of my adventures on his LJ than I would ever give here. Maybe later I'll regret not taking more photos on this trip, but I never wanted to live my life behind a lens. I saw the Statute of Liberty and Times Square. I saw ground zero, the site of the World Trade Center. What a sobering experience. I was suffering from the cold, but looking at those photos I forgot about my own troubles for a while. I'm glad I had two good friends to hug for comfort there. The highlights: Being photographed with Tenderheart Bear for ristin, and appearing (with Marty the Mouse playing me) on the Rapid T. Rabbit and Friends show (I am currently in negotiations on how much to ensure it never airs. ;) ).

But I do want to say something to make sure it's in the public domain:



No disrespect to my much cherished Australian friends, and god knows there's much to keep me there, but I feel as if America is my furry spiritual home. It seems full of kindred spirits for a rat like me. I will be back. There's no doubt of that.

Photos to follow, but probably not until I'm back in Australia.

(Hopefully there will be a less tongue in cheek entry later.) The raccoon collective has sent their storm raccoons after me, and have left me stranded in Chicago O'Hare airport, but I will not be averted from my quest to find America's elusive raccoons. Soon, my travel plans will be back on track and I will be jetting my way to New Jersey and into shy_matsi's supportive paws. I will say this, however: cryoyank (formerly a raccoon before he discovered his dragonhood) was right. America can conjure up a cold that seeps into your very bones and cut right through my warmest clothes. But the cold is no match for the warmth of the reception I've received in this beautiful country, nor for their indomitable spirit when faced by the trials of snow and ice.

My search for wild raccoons began in earnest in Denver, where kit_mcgrath took me 'coon hunting. We found no raccoons, but we did find raccoon tracks. Acting on a tip off, I made my way to Wichita, having learnt that the name Wichita is derived from a local native American word "Kitikitish" which means raccoon eyelids. My search came up empty (except for rumours of raccoon furs, which I understandably didn't follow up), but I know I'm closing in on them by the efforts the storm raccoons are making to stop me.

Those tracking me may feel free to check the latest photos on Flickr.

While watching Furry Night Live at Further Confusion 2007, I suddenly understood why the anti-furry trolls hate us so much. We have something that they can't even comprehend, much less possess: We have each other. Some furries I have spoken to have gone to one con and vowed never to go again, feeling that this rampant exuberance is insulting to the spirituality of their experience of being furry. I felt that spirituality was implicit in everything I saw there, and in the very existence of the con itself. Except for the awakening that Pouch gave me when he brought Ristin into my life, this was the happiest time of my life. Can you imagine my envy of US furries who hop from con to con? :)

I don't want to give a blow by blow description of the con, I'm still trying to internalise the magnitude of the experience myself. It felt like some adult Disneyland where all your dreams come true. But I did want to mention the two most important events of the con.

Quite by chance, I found out that Pouchhopper was at the con. Pouchhopper was the person who made Pouch (I have since found his name was originally Spaceroo). Pouch/Spaceroo is a big plush kangaroo fursuit that reawakened my awareness of myself as a beautiful person deserving of love, and gave me the confidence to reach out when love was offered to me. Most importantly, Pouch brought Ristin into my life. I humbly begged for audience with Pouchhopper so I could thank him in person and I was granted permission. I waited for the appointed time with growing excitement and apprehension. I found that Pouchhopper and his partner Rainhopper are two of the warmest, kindest people you could hope to meet. They welcomed with open arms, and far more kindness than I would have any business to expect. I am still warmed by their heartfelt acceptance of me and my story. He told me that he puts part of his spirit into every suit he makes, and there's no doubt that it was that spirit that shone through in Pouch/Spaceroo and that healed me spiritually when I most needed it.

I attended a plush room party and there I was privileged to be reconciled with furrypaw, a very dear friend whom I still love. I won't go into our history together, but I was so grateful to be forgiven by him. I hope that we can remain close.

One of my few regrets was not having the opportunity to take as many photos as I may want to have for remembering the event later, but I always prefer to live life directly rather than vicariously through a lens. Time permitting, I will be uploading photos from the con to Flickr, so do keep any eye on it.

As promised, you can now find photos of some of my adventures on my Flickr account.



And this evening, I'm going to a Mystery Science Theater 3000 live performance! I almost died of excitement when Nicodemus told me!

This may be my last LiveJournal post from sunny Australia until next month. Tomorrow morning I am flying out to America.

I am moved to tears, thinking of the kindness so many of you have shown me already. Everyone's doing so much for me. If this is indicative of America as a whole, I know it must be the best country in the world! (Right up there with Australia.)

Here's the deal: I'll try to make the occasional post chronicling my adventures so you can keep track of me. I can't promise how often as I will be entirely dependent on the abundant kindness of other people for computer and internet access. And maybe I won't be as candid as you might like, as I have to respect other people's privacies. I'll tag them "america" so you can keep track of them and easily filter just for those posts if you need to catch up.

I hope to meet a lot of you there. Where convenient, I am sure my hosts will put the word out for furry gatherings to meet the Australian rat. I've expressed my desire to meet lots of furries. What better way to get over any lingering sociophobia?

Speaking of which, I am deeply saddened to be leaving ristin behind. I didn't realise it until today, but I'm really going to be missing him. I know he wouldn't be able to follow where I'm going. His own fear of crowds would hold him back. It's ironic, because this adventure would have been unthinkable before I met him. I've never done anything like this before, but I know I can do it. He's given me the confidence to believe in myself. It leaves me thinking I haven't done as much for him... :/

This trip is a tribute to his love.

Here's a rough (and at times speculative) breakdown of my itinerary:
Jan 14-17: San Jose
Jan 18-21/22: Further Confusion
Jan 23-28: Denver
Jan 28-31: Wichita
Jan 31-Feb 3: New Jersey
Feb 3-7: New York