Winter 2026
Hello. We survived 2025. We can do 2026 too.
ANW 8
I started my year on December 31st, getting on a train and heading up to Seattle for Anthro Northwest 8. Like Furlandia, I volunteered to work the con, and worked five three-hour shifts over four days, mostly in registration, though I got pulled into a few other places, which was kind of fun. I hope the con staff sees me as flexible and reliable as a result.
I had a great time! The hotel, the Hyatt Regency Seattle, was beautiful and the staff was warm and welcoming. The check in line had paw prints leading up to the check in desks, and the staff were all wearing cute little cat hear headbands. I later asked someone about the hotel, and they said that the con and hotel have a great relationship, and that the hotel staff says that the con are the nicest guests they have all year, which pleases me a lot.
I didn't get to many panels, but the dealer's den and the artist alley were superb, and the fursuit parade was wonderful (and a full 45+ minutes long!). I definitely didn't get emotional twice (it was the pure joy of the situation. So much joy). I talked to a lot of great people, and I'm looking forward to working Furlandia in May, and going back to ANW 9 next year.
Keeping it Analog
I'm trying the whole bullet journaling thing this year. Part of it is a bid to stay organized, and to keep my thoughts all together, but I also like the aspect of using it as, you know, a journal too, capturing the minutia of my day. It's neat to keep track of that stuff.
What kept me away from it originally was, essentially, the gentrification of the idea; I saw so many people spend their time in their journals putting washi tape on things, making detailed drawings, turning their journals into an art project, rather than doing things actually. It reminded me of my old 43 Folders days 20 years ago, when people would get the system down, and then move on to obsessing which was the best pen, what was the best note card brand to use, how was the best way to make a note card, or file things. People would spend so much time talking about how to max out their productivity hacks instead of, you know, doing things.
All of this is a ramble-y way to say the way I perceived the culture around bullet journaling turned me off to the whole thing. But starting right before the con, I've been enjoying it. I like keeping track of everything. And I hope to keep it going.
And Speaking of Analog...
I've decided that 2026 is going to be the year of analog hobbies. It's time to get off of social media as much as possible. I'll still be posting the comic and such, and there's still people to I want to talk to on one network or another, but I want to get away from screens more. This means reading more books, practicing the ukulele I got a year ago (that's a whole post right there), getting out and taking more pictures. I want to learn how to screen print, and make more zines, and send people mail! And this all sounds like so much fun!
So I'm going to try to be online less. I'm going to try to read more books. I'm going to take more pictures (and hopefully get back on to film once I get a job, and I'm going to get a job this year, I swear). I'd like to get into some zine shows, too, and make more friends in my communities. And I think that's a healthy thing.
Happy 2026, I hope it goes well for you.
-kosmo