As at least one of you has probably noticed, my presence here on FA has dropped dramatically over the past few months, and had indeed already been falling for some time. My journal output has slowed considerably (my Best Movies list has been up for 4 months straight), my commenting is way down, I only read a handful of journals when I'm around, and I'm still so very consistently slow about uploading the new art I get. Not that I meant to do any of that on purpose, it just seems to be that my state of Furry has evolved to that.

When I first joined FA, it was pretty much my sole outlet for all things Furry. Meeting new people, discovering new aspects on the fandom, finding new artists, whatever it was that happened, this was my hub. Furry may not have started for me here, but it definitely entrenched itself as a permanent part of my identity thanks to FA. And I do kind of miss that! I remember how every time I came onto this site (many times a day usually), I was always super eager for any new thing that came my way.

These days, the eagerness is still there, just not applied here. Twitter seems to be my main Furry communication method, and I've met such a wonderfully large amount of folks in the fandom through other means that I don't even ask that one question that used to always come up, "Do you have an FA?" Then there's local meets, cons, other sites, Telegram on my phone, and in general just so many ways to stay connected with folks. FA, though, has slipped to the wayside. Not just for me, but for a good chunk of everyone it seems. No longer do I feel the need to get a journal out on insignificant (or even significant) events in my life, or constantly read the journals of others. Whatever is in them I probably already heard about elsewhere. FA is becoming an afterthought in that regard.

For the art, it's still great. I plan to continue posting art here whenever I get it, even if it's not right away. But beyond that (and keeping my New Submissions neatly trimmed, because I hate when that backs up), I think it's time for me to formally bow out of here. Because while I love you all and I love the site, the fact remains that FA now isn't what FA once was. At least, not to me, and not for me.

This has been a bunch of rambling, and I do sorta wish I could've spilled my thoughts more elegantly. But the long and the short of it is, I'm just not the FA denizen I used to be. I may be a Furry for life, but that life has other ports of call these days. So lots of *hugs* to all of you, and I still hope to keep up with what's what and who's who wherever I may hear about it. And also keep doing the art thing until the day I die, because there will never be enough furry art in my life.