Some people have an attachment to a certain animal or being. Some call it their Spirit Guide, or dream scape self image, perhaps your Chi, inner self, or true form.
Whatever.
Some people feel they were another form in a past life or that they will become this form sometime later.

See, i told you it's hard to explain.

i would call myself a fur, furry, or furfan that leans more towards Spiritual Therianthropy(contherianthropes ).

If you feel comfortable with those words, great.

If you have an opinion already formed you may need to re-think it

If you are not comfortable with these words, may i suggest the following links.

These are difficult, deeply personal and very hard to explain. Although Wikipedia is an open-source form of information, i have found that often times more that not, if you are looking for information on things that are not considered normal mainstream ideologies it's a good place to start. i would suggest setting down in a comfortable and quiet place, clearing your mind and reading the entire articles in the order i have listed them. You may begin to understand, you may be confused beyond all recognition, or you may just learn something about yourself and me at the same time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry_fandom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therianthropy

Lets see, what else. I'm (born in 1972, tired of editing this so you do the math), male, in a long term relationship and I love my Wolf and we will soon be married(married now). We have a slight open relationship but always looking for friends; here is a what I was looking for in a Mate page. I have been a Star Trek fan since the Original Series, I like British comedy and Sci-fi in general. I am a computer hardware guy and can fix just about anything that moves or uses electricity; that's the good 'ol country boy in me, self sufficient. That and it gives me a reason to stay away from the general population. I have been involved with the BoyScouts of America since i was a CubScout and became an Eagle Scout after which i worked my way through the local technical college from which I hold an AAS in electronics. I returned as a leader for a time but quit when I came out of the closet. I am an outdoorsman and an environmentalist by nature. I feel a deep connection the the spirit of the earth and the lesser creatures that inhabit her wilderness; that's the dragon in me (Although I have very strong fox ties as well). i suffer from Crohn's disease and have done so since i was 15. It took me out of the loop of normal social development at a critical age and I think its one of the main reasons i am socially dysfunction (but i have been working on that from time to time). In life outside these walls during the working hours I masquerade as a service manager for a small company that sells and services mail-room and copier equipment. Although I am the manager, I still run service calls and can out technician all of my staff. I share my house with several furbabies, although in the past there were more today we have two indoor cats. I used to read a lot but haven't found the time or will to do so for some several years. Still i think you can learn much about a person by the literature he enjoys so in no particular order are some of my favorites below. I spend a few hours a night generally hanging around in Second Life

The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
and various works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
I read The Hobbit first, when i was in grade school. It was the biggest hard bound book in the library there. A beautiful leather bound issue that must have been donated. i spend many a recess there reading it rather then being ignored or beat-up on the playground. The librarian would not let me take the book home and i agreed, it was too special a book to leave the confines of the library. Thus was born my love of fantasy and hard bound books.

The Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman
I cried when Hesseth died.

Various books of Dune by Frank Herbert
I read all the way up to Chapter house and haven't picked up the series again. Every time i re-read them i got more and more out of them, the are a superbly complex masterpiece.

The Once and Future King, T.H. White.
This one we had to read in High School literature. i was so pissed when the unicorn was killed that i threw the book accost the room in anger.

The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy The trilogy (all five of them), Douglas Adams.
i get a lot of my sarcastic humor form this one, loved it.

The PERN series of books by Anne McCaffrey.
When i first read The Dragon Riders of PERN, it was during a weekend when i was still in high school. My Crohn's was in full swing then and i was...not well. i did not have the energy to do much else, so i picked up the book and started reading. My mother bought it for me for some reason i don't remember. i read the entire thing, non stop, without pausing for sleep. i read it slow taking it all in. Ruth was the character i most felt connected to. i remember tearing up several times in that one. It was shortly before reading these books that i was exploring my dragon self in earnest so this series hit some rather emotional cords.

Born on a Blue Day by Danniel Tamment
I did not actually read this, Scott sent me the book on CD. It brought tears in several spots as i saw insight into my own life. Choices and things in my past, the way I grew up...things clicked and gave me a retrospective insight as to who i am and why i do certain things. It makes me angry a bit as well that the signs in my life, the behaviour i was experiencing was not handled in a way that would have made my life easier to cope with - but - it would also mean i would not be the person i am today.

Well there you have it, you know know a bit about what makes Vincent the Dragon who he is. My mother will no doubt read this site at some point, i hope you understand mom, but don't push me into talking about it will yah...just don't. Well (looks up at what he wrote, wow thats a lot more words than i thought i would use) there will be more to follow but i think but if this gets any longer you will no doubt loose interest if you haven't already. Please feel free to contact me in any way you wish if you have questions, comments etc.

i can be reached by the following:

e-mail: v_dragon@bellsouth.net

Yahoo IM: vincent_the_dragon

Second Life Name - VincentTheDragon Wei, usually hanging around Furlieu Lounge

Crohn's disease links
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/crohns/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn's_disease

My Dragon Code is as follows:
DC2.D Gm L W- T- Phwalt Skh Cta\~+,bta+ Bfl/ic A Fr- Nn M O H--- $~ Fo R+ Ac+ J+ S? I---# V Q? Tc++[technition] E+

If you want to know more, just ask.

last edit 2/8/2016

My size: I am human sized..ish..if you will. When standing on my rear paws I am just under 6 foot tall, on all fours, I think about 4 or so, but I never measured myself that way. Body shape is best described as a mix of other, more well known species. Dragons come in so many different styles, shapes and sizes. Overall, I am semi-anthro, more anthro than semi. While I do mostly walk around on my rear paws, I can tromp around quite nicely on all fours. My body is slender, muscular but not pronounced and feline in nature. Tail is certainly feline however its thicker at the base than a cat. Front paws are pentadactyl and just as dexterous as a humans but with small blunt talons that retract slightly. My palms are fur free as are the bottom of the tips of my fingers both being somewhat pink in color. Foot paws are somewhere in between digigrade and plantigrade but retain much of their digigrade look. Foot pads free are fur free as are the bottom tips of my toes, they are pink like my front paw pads. Wings are smaller than most, I am not built for long nor high flights. Wing arms are five digit and covered in the same fur as the rest of me with skin in between them that have a soft goat leather feel. My head is a mix of fox and feline, I have ears that are more fox like but a feline muzzle with soft short whiskers. My nose is not covered in fur and is pinkish of the same color as my pads, as is the inside of my ears. I have canine teeth but I only bite people that want or need it. My outer covering is a short soft fur. Coloring is a sandy, tan, brown mixture, not quite molted but not of a consistent coloring. Imagine it was painted with a real small paintbrush one dot at a time and all dots were of a different shade of tan then dry brushed together. By belly fur is the same but a lighter cream color. The lighter coloring starts at my chin, down to my neck where it widens across my chest, it narrows as it continues to my belly and along my front thys to just above my knees, it also wraps around to my rump a bit and down the bottom of my tail. I don't have any spiky bits but I have small back sweeping horns on my head, they are brown and covered in soft felt most of the time. My wing membrane is the same lighter color as my belly fur. Genitalia are fox/canine like with a sheath. I do breath a bit of fire, though nothing like they show in renderings and on T.V.. I filter out the nitrogen in the air with a special lung and chemically attach oxygen to it and store in an almost liquid gaseous state. A specialized saliva gland in the roof of my mouth chemically ignites the vapor, or I can expel it in the liquid/gas state and it comes out rather cold. It's good for starting small fires and I have become rather adept at conjuring up flaming snot balls.
I am a creature of the forest and am at peace sunning on a rock in the clearing of my woods. Unlike most 'dragons' I am warm blooded and consider myself to be a mammal.

I fly
I purr
I like to roll on my back in the dirt
I might lick you
(^_^)

Willing to take a chance on that shy little Dragon standing in the corner, unsure about what to do and how to precede, by walking up and saying 'hi'.

Can't resist its beckon.
(this was written a Very long time ago...please excuse the ill formed ideas but dreams are hard to capture into words and i am not a poet)

After the trials of another long day, he goes home to his small lonely house, feeds the cats and himself. He distracts himself for hours in his hobbies until the call of sleep can be fought no more. Sometime after tossing upon the bed, he slips into dreams

The dragon soars swiftly, through the misty clouds of early evening. He is flying home from a long journeys end. He can feel the heat of muscles seeking rest. Soon, he thinks to himself, soon will I be home to rest. Lost for a moment in his distractions, the sudden appearance of an otherwise familiar form coming up from beneath him, startles him form a brief second. He smiles to himself in relief, for he knows his journey is close at end. The form is Mianth, his love, joining him in the last leg. His journey, much as his own, was long and tiresome as well. His relief is great that they arrived together, so as neither of them would have to wait without the other. Though tired and weary he expends the effort to swoop down under him, doing a loop he lightly scrapes his tail along the others underside; a gentle in-air caress.

They land together at the lake. He looks to the soon to set sun. Mianth says what he is thinking. "The day is done, dear, our journeys are at end. Both we are tired and long for the rest of each others comfort" They slip into the lake to wash the pains of the days away. The naturally warm and clear lake always sooths them both. They wash each other and massage away the twinge of aching muscles. The bond of touching and stroking nulls the pain of the long journeys in which they have partook.

They slip from the lake and start towards the dry cave in the cliff they call home. Mianth stops in the clearing where the wind is always sweet and soft, allowing it to dry his wet body. He follows; stopping short, he looks upon him.

Mianth is of the same size and weight as he, his lines are smoother, softer, innately feline; his hide, soft the touch and silky in feel. From a distance its color could erroneously be called white. That description does it little justice. Basically white though it be, it has a quality hard to describe. Like the roaming, swirl of rainbow colors that floats on the skin of a soap bubble if caught just right in the sun, he shimmers with all the colors of creation. The clouds promise a rain on the horizon. The sun sets to his left as the sky explodes in endless hues of red and purple folds. Mianth senses his gaze and returns it.

He has the lines of a life of long and hard work. Although dotted with the scars of toiling, his hide is soft and warm to the touch. From a distance his color could be tan, but that description lacks by far. His coloring is not solid but a melding of many. The color of fresh turned earth to the warm cream of hazelnut milk. It's as if he were painted, one minuscule dot at a time from a hand of infinite shades of the same color. Looking closely upon him, if the sun is just right, you can make out, between the melding dots of colors, a strange shimmer. It is akin to the kaleidoscope of colors that dance on the water of a bath that has sweet oils in it.

They continue on up to their home. A large fire is lit in the hearth that adorns the wall as Mianth waits for him on the soft couch of furs. He stops, looking into his eyes, slowly advancing. Muzzle to chin, check to cheek. Slowly he slides his cheek down the others neck, Mianth to him the same. They embrace gently and drink in each other's presence. Deeply they take it in, the milk of that which sustains them. Their souls touch and their essence tingles with each others. In the moonlit night, they make love. Falling deep into each other's embrace, they fall into sleep.

The man awakes with a start. The alarm tells him that its time to get up; a new day awaits. A hot cup of coffee in hand, he steps outside and sits on the steps of his empty house. Eyes closed, he raises his head to take in the warmth of the bright morning sun then down at the wet ground. His eyes stop a puddle just to his left, remnants of a rain that fell in the night. He stairs into the glass surface of the still water. His reflection looks back, he notices lines that, just yesteryears, were not there. A single tear escapes and falls, disturbing the calm of his reflection; stirring it up into an odd shape. A shadow shoots by and startles from his calm. His eyes roam the cloudless sky for a familiar sight he has never yet seen. He sighs and prepares to leave, off to struggle with another long day.

2. What is your email address?
v_dragon@bellsouth.net

3. Are you male or female?
male

4. How old are you? / What is your date of birth?
September 30, 1972

5. Where do you live?
rural North Western Kentucky, south of Evansville, Indiana

6. What are your interests/hobbies?
Computer hardware, started rpging lately(failed), camping n hiking, cooking, watching movies.

7. What do you do for a living?
Copier repair technician + copier connectivity specialist (integrating copier into networks for scan, email, print etc)

8. How would you describe your personality?
shy, cynical humor

9. Do you believe in ESP? Do you consider yourself to be psychic?
yes, I have had instances of foreknowledge, mainly regarding family members

10. Are you a meat eater?
I am, however i do not believe in industrial factory farming and am for animals rights towards humane treatment. My ancestors had it right, when they culled a bison, they thanked the spirit of the bison for allowing itself to be taken.

Furry media
===========

11. Who are your favorite furry characters?
hmmm...Krystal from StarFox, Sratfox, the Skunkworks skunks, Gadget, the guys from Associated Student Bodies, PB&J, and just about any male furry...

12. What type of furry artwork do you enjoy viewing?
natural poses, romantic, erotic.

13. What type of furry literature do you enjoy reading?
I don't read much anymore I don't have time.
erotic/romantic + adventure, sci-fi

14. What types of furry media do you create?
i have written bits and pieces of things but i am not very good at it, mostly centered around something yiffy.
Here is a recurring dream: He Hates The Night(this is dated and desperately need updated)
He Moves in Close (better but still sucks)(Since i came out of the closet i now look at my past writings i realize the problem - i Can write gay, i Can't write straight...i may re-write these at some point...he move in close was inspired by an rpg game i was involved with, the female character was played by a guy...thats why i felt attracted to hir)

15. What types of animal/furry themed decorations adorn your living space?
sculptures, plushies, posters, artwork, knicknacks.

16. Describe your ideal plushie.
Hmmm...never thought much about it...big, soft and fluffy maybe a purr box.

Costumes and collars
====================

17. Do you enjoy wearing fursuits and/or furry accessories?
I have not had the opportunity. I have given it lots of thought but as a dragon, fursuits that i have seen don't seem to be what i would want. I have ideas rolling in my head about an animatronic tail and wings but have not had any time/money/space to undertake such a project...maybe someday

19. Describe your favourite/ideal 'furry' appearance.
having my tail and wings would be nice.

Furriness
=========

['phenotype' - the species of animal(s) that influence your feelings, emotions and thoughts]

20. What are your phenotype(s)?
Dragon and Fox

21. How/when did you discover the identity/species of your phenotype?
Over a long period of time. Some through lucid dreaming (which i can't seem to do anymore), Vivid daydreams and...conversations with Nature

22. What conditions help you to enjoy/express your furriness?
Being online and talking to others. Introspective thinking.

23. How and when was your furriness first evident?
To me? I always knew I was...different; but there was no defining moment.

24. How much of your furriness is 'instinct' vs 'learnt'?
Thats a tough one to answer. I'm sure there are degrees of both

25. How does your furriness influence your thoughts and emotions?
I've been known to growl and hiss...I don't see my furriness as a separate part of me. There is a certain duality there and they share the same thoughts and emotions.

26. Has your furriness improved the quality of your life?
no not really. No doubt it would be easier if I were "normal"

27. What do you think caused your furriness?
fear and loneness

Acting furry
============

28. How does your furriness manifest itself externally?
mainly vocally (hissing, purring, growling), walking digigrade sometimes at home, sometimes on all fours.

29. Do you act furry in public?
I have caught myself hissing at things and people before; but usually its more to myself.

30. How does your furriness influence the way you interact with people?
Again I think of myself as both human and dragon. Human on the outside, dragon in the inside; so to speak. I would interact the same no mater what form i was in.

31. How much control do you have over your furriness?;
No more or less control than any other person has over themselves.

Furry thoughts
==============

32. Would you become an animal/furry, if you -couldn't- change back?
Yes

33. Describe your ideal physical form.
That would be:
http://vincentthedragon.com/blogs/blog7.php/2008/08/15/me-the-dragon

34. What kind of furry, non-sexual fantasies do you have?
Flying in the clouds with my mate, feeling the mist of the clouds on my hide, the heat of exertion on my wing muscles, the sun on my back when I exit the clouds then soaking in the warm water of a hot spring followed by us sunning on a nice sunny rock. Roaming the night in Fox form, full moon, warm wind on my fur.

Religion/Spirituality
=====================

35. Is your furriness compatible with your religion?
I don't feel it necessary to tie myself to any specific religion, so no.

36. Has your furriness led you to reconsider your religious beliefs?
no

37. Have you ever communicated with an animal spirit?
i can communicate with the cats and dog that own me and seem to have a natural empathy with 'wild' animals. I have entertained deer, songbirds and skunks with conversation. I don't think they understood much but i do get some kind of feedback. They don't mind my close proximity to them and are engaged for a bit, until something extraneous (car passing, human sounds) interrupts our 'talk'

38. Do you believe that you were an animal in a former life?
no. I just am what i am

39. Do you believe that you have an animal soul?
no and yes

Animals
=======

40. What animals are you most/least comfortable with?
Most: feline, canine, Vulpine
Least: spiders. Creepy little things catch me off guard sometimes but i respect them, and they can be beautiful.

41. Do you believe that animals have ESP?
some have levels of what humans would call esp. perhaps they just have more open minds and listen to the world around them.

42. Do you think it is acceptable to hunt/raise animals for food?
yes but they need to have some sense of well being. they need space and intellectual challenges(toys) to be emotionally fit as well as physically.

43. Do you think it is acceptable to hunt/raise animals for fur/leather?
yes and no. If you only hunt/raise for the animals covering or for the kill, you are wasting that creature.

44. Do you think it is acceptable to hunt/raise animals for sport?
NO

Internet
========

45. What are your favourite websites?
Homestarrunner.com, other than that I follow a few web commics; KitnKay and peteristhewolf, Therithere. I surf the net mainly for information (Google is your Friend)but hang out mainly in news groups and mostly lurk or are there for the 'artwork'.

46. What are your favourite furry mailing lists?
not on any

47. How did you discover alt.lifestyle.furry?
just searching keywords in the news group headers

48. What were your very first impressions of alt.lifestyle.furry?
the posts I read were a bit....serious for me but i hung around for a bit until i decided that i would speak up.

49. What do you like the most/least about alt.lifestyle.furry?
haven't been around long enough to form a opinion...Again, i am more of a silent watcher but i will pontificate if asked a question or is presented with something of internal interest.

Sexuality/Relationships
=======================

51. Describe your ideal partner.
I'm tired of living my life alone, at this point i have no other requirement other than living; but i want it to be mutually satisfying. I'm not looking for a fucktoy, i want a soul mate.

52. What type of furry sexual fantasies do you have?
Long, drawn out, romantic, lots of physical touching and caressing.
*Blushes*

53. Has your gender preference changed since discovering the furry community?
no..er maybe a little

54. What species of animal do you find the sexiest?
In order: feline, dragon, vulpine, skunk, canine.

55. What part of an animal's body do you find the most attractive/sexy?
tail