Picture, if you could...

For those of you who are just introducing yourself to my blog, please note that this is a place for
free speech. This is simply a way to utilize my writing ability, as well as a method I'll be using to
de-stress myself. Seeing as I've been having a lot of that as of late. 

Content at times may be NSFW, so please be warry of this when reading posts on this blog.

Here is my major malfunction today.

So, my mate and I were planning on going to this event up in Burlington, VT. It's called Outright Vermont. Essentially, a youth conference that they hold every year over at South Burlington High School, which gave us something to really look forward to attending together as a couple. They hold LGBT youth conferences, you get to connect with fellow LGBT members, and there's supposed to be a Queer Prom at the end of the night.

So around a week ago, my pup helped me sign up. We spent time planning, arguing, and being excited for the whole event. Well apparently the people that help run the event (specifically Dana J. Kaplan) are good at providing a distinct lack of early communication with their participants.

Early in the afternoon today (May 5th, 2014), I received a very disheartening email, direct from miss Dana herself, in reply to my application to the event:

"Thanks for being interested in attending and participating in the youth summit. Unfortunately, this event is for youth age 13-22, only. I see on your registration form that you are 23, so it's not going to work for you to participate.

It's really important that we keep to this agreed upon age range to create consistency and fairness for everyone that wants to be a part of Outrights youth events."

The main reason that this email immediately pissed me off is the fact that the organization behind the Outright VT had failed to send verification of any kind to myself or my mate only a week prior to the event.

My second point is, what a weird-ass age to make the cutoff. Now, I turned 23 in February. This was going to be the first big LGBT event that I've ever gone to. I've never been to a furmeet, convention, or event, regarding furries and/or LGBT.

Also, the one line in that email that sent me over the edge was, "fairness for everyone that wants to be a part of Outrights youth events."

Dana, if you had even a remote clue as to what attending this event meant to my mate and I, you'd have thought twice. Maybe next time, instead of knocking someone down like that, you could take the time to speak to the people that barely miss your ridiculous age limit.

Sooooo yeah! In essence, the big weekend we had planned is now shot (to an extent, at least I still get to see my baby), and I'm left with more stress than I needed. Too many family arguments. I needed a chance to really have a voice on key issues that I believe in, and one email from Dana J. Kaplan shot me right back into my seat after I responded with such excitement.

You want to run a better event, Miss Kaplan?  Here's a little advice.

It might be a youth summit, but I guarantee there are adults there that provide support, experience, and guidance to the youth attending. If that's the case, why not create a separate sign-up sheet for people who are over the age limit? I mean Jesus,  I only turned 23 nearly 3 months ago, and that somehow renders my attendance ineligible?

That's a big slap to the nads.

You need to learn a better planning strategy for sign-ups. I'm sure you get a lot of angry emails from people that are too old to attend. I do, however, if you're reading this blog, hope that you take something away from it that you didn't have before reading.

This was a huge shot to the heart (knock on wood) for my boyfriend and I. All we wanted to do was be apart of something bigger that ourselves, and show our support.

Re-evaluate your rules. They're a tad ridiculous.