~SngglBny

Happy New Year and a look back over the last year.

I know traditionally I have written one of these a year, when the new year comes around, but last year I did not, as there was a lot on my mind.

First off, I would like to wish everyone a Very Happy New Year from both myself and from all the members who help out with Alberta Furries on all the different media we now cover.

In 2017, we went through a bit of a change with adding in two new forms of contact for the furry community here in Alberta, with two new Telegram Chats, one which is SFW and one which is NSFW. Both of these have been very successful chats which are extremely active. The SFW one has over 300 participants and the NSFW one has over 100 participants. This has meant a big drop of people on the http://www.albertafurries.ca but that was to be expected as people continue to expand their social media circle. The forums hit 9yrs of age on the 23rd of December.

There have been many new furries which have joined the community and have stayed active in it.

It has been great to see so many new faces around, even at times when it makes me look back and feel old due to the amount of years that I have been around in the furry community at large. But 99% of the time it is my pleasure to keep all these various types of communication around for the community and to promote the inclusion of all who wish to be part of it. The other 1% of the time, yes I do shake my head and go, what have I gotten myself into.

The two Telegram chats, were brought to life due to requests from the community to have someone create a stable group chat, where people did feel welcome rather than some of the existing chats which were “exclusive” or just had rules which drove people nuts as they changed on a whim and no one could ever follow them, or if you happened to think differently than an admin, you were banned on a whim. Sure I will 100% admit that I am human and would love to just ban a few people from some of the chats, just because who they are, but with wanting to keep everything open, that does not happen.

On more of a personal note, this year has really been one of reflection. As mentioned I have not written one of these for two years and there are a few reasons for that. Just over a year ago, maybe about 14 months ago, I went for my first physical in over 20yrs, well since I left the military and ended up with some rather shocking news. I ended up with a really complete workup and this was due to finding a really good doctor. I ended up with so many blood tests, an Electrocardiogram (2 times), seeing a cardiologist, and being put on a few med’s which will stick with me for life. Probably the biggest thing out of all this that hit home, was because I waited too long for a physical there were some surprises.
One thing that I should say, is make sure you go and get your physicals on a regular basis and do not ignore things.

But the biggest surprise was the hearing that I if I had not come in, I probably only had about 3 – 5 years left to live. So that really made me open my eyes and think a bit around that.

I did end up blocking some people as I did not want the negative influences in my life.

But I have also thought about those of you who have flowed into my life over the years and flowed back out as your life continued on a new path and mostly due to faults of my own, I did not keep in contact. For that I do have a regret, but most do not know there are some which really did influence myself and I will always have a place in my thoughts and heart for them and really do wish them the best and it is so great to see how well they are doing in their lives on the various forms of social media that they update.

What does 2018 bring to the bunny. Well I have started to look at see what else there is out there, as I need to continue to make sure that I grow myself and that I remain healthy both mentally and physically. This may mean a change in career, a change in location, new friends, trying to stay in contact with old friends, being more social, etc.

But in closing, I do wish everyone a very Happy New Year and may your goals for 2018 come to light and may your journey down the path of life be one filled with wonderful people, excellent experiences and that you have those special moments where your life is touched by others and that you in turn touch others lives in a positive way. Nothing is more special that finding out years later that you made a difference, just by being you and you can make that difference, just unfortunately you do not always get to hear that you did.