OK so I fucked up and should have posted 3 months ago when the New year was actually still the “New year”. But I figured I’d do it when I finished Divinity Original sin 2 for a review. To be honest I hate sitting down and writing huge paragraphs. But I always seem to let the updates pile up until I have no choice but to make a wall of text. Here is your wall of text: (Special thanks to Hydro who drew Ingo and I holiday cards even though they never made it to our place *grumble *grumble*)
- This year has been a year of firsts really. First time living with a boyfriend, First time with Hookah, Discovering Kratum, and first time going to a couple of hard core EDM shows. We went n saw 1)infected mushroom, 2)Diesel boy, 3)Carl Cox at the Midway in San Fransisco. I can confidently tell you that Ive been slammed in a mosh pit, nearly puked in a bar trash bin, took my gold hat and cut a rug dead center of the blast area of the sub woofers. Little people in suits and ties playing with finger lights, old 70 year old men in military dress blues rocking a whiskey to the hardest shit you’ve ever heard. Face painters, and random dudes fishing for MDMA. People coming to dance wearing only bra and panties, and some people dressed as dinosaurs chilling out to the high powered sound system. Shit didn’t stop till 3Am either. What I will say about Infected mushroom was that it was really cool to see the team, especially the guy who played the guitar on stage. I love some of their singles and could hear them sampling songs from their library. As far as the set went, It was good- yet I prefer their singles more. That crowd was more about the Psychedelic theme in nature: Weirdos and hippies. We left near the end of their set exhausted but excited for more. Ingo introduced me to Diesel Boy, a world renowned Drum & base DJ who tore up the floor at the DNA lounge while people outside roamed the street looking for the GDC after parties. We saw The Carl Cox last Friday and sweated it out for 6 hours to the most electrifying house music this side of the pond. This crowd was more horny and a lot more druggy then the other shows, but everyone was enjoying themselves. Everyone. It didn’t matter that you had to fight your way to the bar to get a drink, you did it- and you got the fuck back in there. I recommend you go to a EDM show at least once. Just don’t get caught bringing in outside liquor.
***This month I’m taking off for the 12 continuing education credits I need to earn to keep my day job. Its going to take about 2 weeks to do. So I only have room to make the minor changes to the finished Atoll comic. I’ll be back in May to continue Prince Tomcat/Calamity comic while I work with Ingo to learn the 2018 version of Blender.
***Atoll Lab short story Is officially done for now. This weekend I intend to edit a couple of pages towards the beginning/middle for quality and contrast. If you liked the 2 porn pages currently showing in the Atoll Tab, You have 1 week to save the original versions. No dialogue will be edited, so it is safe to read from front to back.
I hope you guys have enjoyed this project. I started this comic in April of 2015 during the beginning of my 2nd year of medical school. It has taken a ridiculously long time, one page a weekend in between requests and other things I owed. I started a patreon to showcase these comic arts and It got me through a particularly stressful 3 trimesters. Originally meant to be a mechaphillia porn comic, I advanced the story, and realized pretty quick that I had grown beyond this basic idea. I fell in love with the world I had made up. And so I resolved to just finish my thoughts here, independent of whether or not anyone would take interest. Some of you did, and I am very happy.
Special thanks to Cerebralerror, Gunnerrott, for turning the shitty dry ass k-rations I call dialogue into something manageable. Good editors/proofreaders are valuable and should be squirreled away when you find them. Shout out to the love of my life Aeroingo, who took time out of his music career to talk me down, and prop me up when I felt like shit some days. And shout out to GhettoDan who is helping me with Russian translations.
- In February, I took Ingo and May to see what was to be my first Broadway show. I couldn’t have started with a better show either, That’s right: I saw The book of Mormon. It was fan-fucking-tastic. A collaboration between Robert Lopez, Trey Parker, and Matt Stone, the guys painted a hilarious story of a young Mormon missionary who dreams of being sent to Orlando Florida so he could visit Disneyland while doing his missionary work. Instead He is teamed up with a sidekick whilst being sent to Uganda where 80% of the poor black African villagers had AIDS. The people walk around starving under the tyranny of a local drug warlord (who shoots people in the face). The two young Mormon elders must reconcile their differences and deliver the small Ugandan town from Evil. Great songs, Great laughs, and interludes where Jesus spoke to the audience with the voice of Cartman from south park. Go see this show if you possibly can, Its incredibly worth it. But beware of scalpers who May end up buying out the theaters only to turn around and sell them through a re-seller at twice the price. I learned the hard way that the only way to get cheap tickets to hot shows is to camp the shows websites waiting to strike the moment they drop.
- Recently re-discovered one of the very early childhood books I read before I even knew how to tell time. I wasn’t sure what conversation lead to me to scour the internet for the name of this, but with assistance I was able to remember just how far back the living machine thing possibly went. Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel named” Marry Anne” (the machine is a girl!). While I cant remember what the story was about, the face of the shovel really burned into me as this friendly amazing..thing. Almost like she was this huge dragon that loved her human enough to work her treads off. I think the story was maybe based off the industrial revolution?? But kudos to the artist. In any case, was their was a book, commercial, movie about living machines that might have sparked all of you guys as young impressionable kids? If so I’d love to hear it.
^ worlds most beautiful roar
- Lastly, My boyfriend and I started the kedo diet around the end of January. For those not acquainted with the kedogenic diet, It involves adhering to a strict carbohydrate cap of 40-50 grams of carbs a day. The idea of the diet, is to cycle out your readily available sugar reserves and starve out the gut bacteria that craves and uses the sugar before it uses fats. We started the diet, and gym late January and now I am proud to announce that as of April 4rth I have lost 55lbs. Ahead of schedule in my 100lbs loss before the end of the year. ;;thumbs up; If you are looking to get serious about weight loss, and are willing to give up carbs for a year or two, Check out this link: https://www.ruled.me/guide-keto-diet/
To be Continued…
Most my childhood that had to do with living machine that i know is mostly the disney ones that i watch on vcr cassette that we rented alot from blockbuster. Namely the ones i know like sussie the car and pedro the plane which is my personal favorite cartoon shorts. And two other cartoon shorts from tex avery that i reamber watching that has livingmachines was called one cab family and little jonny jet. Lastly there this one game called putt putt joins the parade that i played probably at second or third grade. their is a bunch of other putt putt games but this is the only one that i was only able to play. That about all i could reamber from my childhood whith any living machines that i know but sadly i didn’t read that book with the steam shovel.
@Ratbat: – I actually used the Elliptical today, got it up to a half hour for the first time since I have the resistance set pretty high. I hate it, I love using the Rowing Machine better but it’s better to vary what you do every day. The Elliptical is diffidently the big calorie burner though.
20 Pounds a month is HUGE holy crap! Make sure you try to do some ab workouts now before you have a ton of skin sag. Mine is very slowly starting to tone up thank god, I did not want that operation!
Every day for months now at least one co worker or customer mentions or talks about my weight loss. I literally for the first time ever had a long time customer who hasn’t been in in a while not recognize me until he heard my voice. THAT was awesome feeling for sure. As for clothes I still pretty much wear what I always have, jeans and a polo or a tee shirt. Though I am wearing more muscle shits since my arms started to show muscle in them 😉
Take care of yourself, I was literally dying when I was 308 pounds I had gone to the Emergency Room once thinking I had a heart attack, when it was an allergic reaction to new medications I was on. Then later my Blood Pressure was 204 over 102 and the Nurse said that was stroke levels, you should have seen her face when I said but I feel fine now, last night it was really bad! I’ve gotten myself off all medications loosing the weight, and you are going to adore how much stronger and better you will feel. Sleeping will be a hell of a lot easier once your lungs can function without a lot of weight around them!
I hope you stick to it, it is one of the hardest things you will ever do but it is so important to keep it up!
@Ratbat – Well it all started when I was 308 Pounds and my Doctor pissed me off… I told him in the heat of the moment I would be under 200lbs on my next appointment in one year… When I left the doctors office I was so pissed I decided after my vacation I would get serious on the diet. It’s been 13 Months and 1 week now since I’ve started and I am at 187lbs right now.
You HAVE to be in good health to start anything similar to my diet. My cholesterol was excellent, my heart is strong, and other than high blood-pressure I was in perfect health short of my weight. Most important thing is don’t push yourself crazy doing the working out, I started out with only a few minutes a few times a week and built myself up to where I am right now.
I would diffidently talk to your Doctor before starting anything, and be aware I went through some severe mood swings when I wanted a cheeseburger or an icecream but chose to stay on the diet. So be very careful you don’t go full insane like I did.
STAGE 01 – This was simple, I started from March till some time in September just cutting down to 1,500 calories a day, every day, strict not including liquids. Also completely gave up soda. I didn’t start working out at first because I didn’t think I would stick on it YEEEESH what a mistake that was. I started dropping weight at around 7 or 8 pounds a month.
STAGE 02 – Around the time of Thanksgiving I was still 30ish pounds away from my goal, so I went down to 1,000 calories a day every day and working out at least 3 times a week for as long as I could push myself on the rower. This diet here was absolutely INSANE and even with taking several vitamins was totally drained of energy AND strength. I stayed on this up until my Dr Appointment where I was 194 pounds in the Dr. Office fully clothed WOO HOO I did it!
STAGE 03 – The diet I am on right now. Calories were brought back up to 1,200 – 1,500 a day but I had to start adding Protein in quantity. I have 90 to 100 grams of protein a day every day and really cranked up working out to almost every day. Now my friends and family are worried I have an eating disorder when in reality I’m PISSED at my skin for ruining all this insanely hard work. I was in a size 50 stretch pants, and right now I’m wearing a size 32 stretch pants Dickies work pants. If I didn’t have this excess skin I would probably be in a 32 regular or 30 elastic band pants. The good thing is I am starting to see the skin shrinking after the past month of working out on this diet.
I’ve began using a 12 pound medicine ball and really targeting my core muscles, Mens Health Magazine had a great article you can find by googling “Best ab workouts for men” and half of the things the recommended used a medicine ball. I use this at least twice a week for 45 minutes to an hour doing all kinds of different workouts.
Elliptical I started using a cheap elliptical I got off Walmart during the cyber monday sale they had, this thing KILLS me but I’ve got it up to around 25 minutes to 30 minutes 2 times a week. I started at 5 minutes and was exhausted.
Treadmill I recently picked up this non electric treadmill from Walmart on the cheap, and this is just as hard as the Elliptical. Just recently got this up to 20ish minutes a day a few times a week.
Pushups and Squats – Try to do at least 20 to 50 per day every day on top of the other workouts, but my chest was getting pretty sore so I only do 20ish a day sometimes skipping them all together.
The biggest help was making a little paper to write down EVERYTHING I eat, calculate the protein and calories, and write down the excersizes I do and the quantity I completed. This is a royal pain in the ass, but it’s kept me on the diet, I alternate the 4 main excersizes so I’m not doing the same thing every day, and if I’m really tired I’ll skip one or two a week so I’m not killing myself.
Again be very careful Diets can be crazy hard and unbelievably draining. I was just more thick headed than hungry I suppose. But man my ARMS are finally starting to show some actual muscle in them and I LOVE it! No body builder but for the first time in my life if I tense my arms up I actually see the muscle.
@Zara:Dude the elliptical is good! Way more efficient then using the exercise bike. Ingo and I, when we are serious do 5 days a week 30 minutes a day,(Though we SHOULD be doing it at about an hour at a time since you can get a 900 calorie loss in that time.) Lately though we’ve slaked off the last 2 weeks doing work and events n such. We haven’t really gained any weight but haven’t lost it either. But I weighed in last night at 338. That means Ive been dropping 20 lbs a month.
I notice you also count calories too. Ive been ball-parking my calories at round 1500 a day. Generally speaking, I eat a small bag of salted peanuts or cashews for lunch, protein shake for breakfast.. and then a giant hamburger (bun only) or chicken for dinner with vegetables.
Dude you wrote a better response then I ever could Its fantastic.
@Zara: hve you been getting more compliments these days? what do you find yourself wearing now that you dropped the pounds?
I freaking love your art…just saying…i would love to learn how to draw machines as well as you…T^T (i can only draw airplanes and boats but your dire machines are awesome!!!)
@Happiness: If you can find a couple of good books, games or die cast models to sketch from, it becomes easier. But again, thank you soo much for visiting and reading the comic <3
you should link your artwork.
Heh. I had that book as a kid. Now that I think about it, I liked a lot of stories about living machines as a kid.
@Iron: I think a lot of us had a very similar pool of childhood cartoons in common. :scratches chin; books to apparently.
About your diet that is frigging awesome my friend! My entire life I have been morbidly obese up until March 13, 2017 when I started my own diet with the intent to show up my doctor. On my appointment this February I had gone from 308lbs down to 194lbs in 11 months. All 3 of the offices Doctors came into the office at once to see my before picture and me now. Now I’m down to 189 and still working on it.
I never lost that much weight THAT fast as you and it’s been an incredible struggle. I just cut back on the Calories to 1,000 a day not including liquids for many months was the basic diet that I was able to loose the fat. Now I have a warning to you that I am fighting tooth and nail with right now… HANGING SKIN.
I went from a size 50 pants down to now squeezing into a 32, but my biggest issue isn’t remaining fat but the decades of stretched skin not shrinking up with the rest of me. Since March 1 this year I’ve been eating nearly 100g of Protein a day but still undercutting my calories 1,200 to 1,500 a day and working out daily. I had already started on a rowing machine on the old diet, but now the only way my Doctor told me I can loose the inches of sagging skin is to build up some muscle that will help the skin shrink and fit properly again.
If you can start doing so very basic muscle training now, doesn’t have to be insane like I’ve been doing for a month now. But if you can build up some muscle it might help you avoid the predicament I have found myself in now. I look fine except in the lower belly below my belly button all the skin from my shoulders down just sags there and it’s sickening after all that hard work.
Lowfat Greek Yogurt, Eggs, canned tuna, and grilled chicken are all very high in Protein and low in calories. Not trying to sway you to a different diet PLEASE stick to what works for you. Just trying to give you a little heads up what you might encounter once you drop the weight fast like you have been doing.
Congratulations again loosing that kind of weight that fast blows away what I had accomplished, if you keep that up you will add many years to your life and just feel so much better and more POWERFUL like I feel every day.
ANONYMOUS April 5, 2018 at 11:15am……….. HOLY CRAP bud I had just typed out my huge warning to him and noticed you also warned him about it lol. I lost on average about 3 pounds a week and still have sagging skin like crazy. The longer you carried the extra weight the harder it is to have that skin return to normal especially as you age. 34 years old now and I’m battling it like crazy!
@Zara: DUDE you dropped over 100lbs in 11 months? That’s fucking amazing and I wanna be like you. You are my hero now. Do you have any advice on whith excersizes tone up besides the rowing machine? I’ve heard that If you don’t tone up early on then you have to get operated on to remove the 40-50lbs excess skin or it might ulcerate.
Also I can confirm that your diet is like my diet now. Only vegetables, proteins, and fats from meats. Been eating tons of chicken and broccoli. (It gets tiresome sometimes)
Dude I’m 37, if you are having a hellova Time then my shit is going to be a nightmare :/
>First time with Hookah, Discovering Kratum, and first time going to a couple of hard core EDM shows.
Isn’t kratum an opioid? I would SERIOUSLY advice against getting into that stuff, people I’ve known have gotten addicted to opioids, they’re easy to develop a dependence to.
>In any case, was their was a book, commercial, movie about living machines that might have sparked all of you guys as young impressionable kids? If so I’d love to hear it.
I was into mecha a good ten years before I was into living machines, but I can remember the first time I thought about vehicles in a sexual way was when I saw your art a few years ago. I still prefer mecha but I do like the idea of getting it on with a tank, I guess I have you to thank for that.
>We started the diet, and gym late January and now I am proud to announce that as of April 4rth I have lost 55lbs.
Serious congrats on the weight loss! 55lb in three-to-four months is a bit fast though, you shouldn’t lose more than two or three pounds a week or you’ll get crazy excess skin.
@... Anonymous: (Sorry for late post) The Kratum thing is actually kind of addictive, and itl give you massive constipation. So I only take it once a week. But I do understand your concern. I think the USDA has been looking at it for 2 or 3 years now to see if they should outlaw it. Its tough right now, I already live on ibuprofen for my back..Its murder on the stomach too ;/. the only thing I have left is to loose another 100 lbs and hope these pains iron themselves out.
My old roommate introduced me to a sexy tank called PL01 that looked right out of a futuristic game. I’m not sure what became of it, but I was coming out of. deep depression where I basically didn’t even draw for 2 years. Seeing that tank, and seeing other European MBTS brought me back. I thought about making them sentient and putting them into sexy situations where your battle machine is also your lover. Turns out it was way hotter then I anticipated. So I totally understand you on that. And as of late I dont draw enough ground vehicle stuff. That needs fixing.
Ive been to /kedo on reddit and it seems that all initial weight loss on the ketogenic diet follows this pattern. Ive briefly stalled out because I Ive been bad last week.. But I should be fine until I have to pull an hour of tone work at the gym. I anticipate lots of flying-squirrel skin I’ll have to deal with.
Maybe I’ll get some blood work done next month just to check on things.
Good blog.