So its been years but I was prompted to pick up Illustrator recently, inspired by the work of blo0p on DeviantArt.
I decided to start making some minimalist posters for people in a co-op writing group I'm part of in City of Heroes for a fictional super group called The Challengers. I've been having fun doing them and re-imagining the characters in a very minimal sense, its been awhile since I was enjoying doing any sort of artwork consistently so I figured I would share.
Here are the ones I've done so far:
Click for image to view the full size picture on DA, i definitely recommend the full view for some of the detail.
Characters (Left to Right): Azure Tracer, Red-Havok, Xanatos (links to full bio)
Characters (Left to Right): Human Flashbulb, Blast Cycle, Replacer (links to full bio)
Character: Foxy Ferret (Link to full bio)
I also did one of these for![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1)
negumiof an Angry Marine mainly for his one character Trac-Tor:
I decided to start making some minimalist posters for people in a co-op writing group I'm part of in City of Heroes for a fictional super group called The Challengers. I've been having fun doing them and re-imagining the characters in a very minimal sense, its been awhile since I was enjoying doing any sort of artwork consistently so I figured I would share.
Here are the ones I've done so far:
Click for image to view the full size picture on DA, i definitely recommend the full view for some of the detail.
Characters (Left to Right): Azure Tracer, Red-Havok, Xanatos (links to full bio)
Characters (Left to Right): Human Flashbulb, Blast Cycle, Replacer (links to full bio)
Character: Foxy Ferret (Link to full bio)
I also did one of these for
negumiof an Angry Marine mainly for his one character Trac-Tor:So it seems I'm in a bit of a bad situation as far as my Mp3 player goes. I love my Zune, with a few minor exceptions it pretty much does what I want it to do. The computer software is clunky and I'm not particularly a fan but the device itself and its interface are great. It provides the functionality I want and its easy to use.
Unfortunately it was dropped and the screen is now cracked. It still works but I'm sure at this point its only a matter of time before the screen dies. Since Microsoft no longer makes the Zune the prospect of replacing one is a pricey affair, so I decided I would finally give an iPod a try. People I know rave about them and Gamestop has them refurbished for a decent price.
Prior to buying I decided to test one out by borrowing a 3rd gen 64GB iPod touch we have at work.
What I learned rather quickly is that the iPod appears to be feature deficient when it comes to its main purpose, IE playing fucking music.
Pros:
Cons:
So basically for more then I paid for my Zune I can have less of the features I want, more I don't want, and a mp3 player that doesn't even do what I want/need it to do.
So I'm kinda left in a position now of seeing whether I can manage to find a Zune for a reasonable amount, because I can't even find a decent non-apple MP3 player that meets my needs because Apple has basically destroyed any competition in the Mp3 market.
If you have suggestions I'm listening. I need something that plays music, has a decent battery life, is not touchscreen, allows for adding into the now player queue, has FM Radio, has good sound quality and doesn't cost a small fortune.
Edit: Just found out about Rockbox so might look into using that on an older generation iPod classic.
Unfortunately it was dropped and the screen is now cracked. It still works but I'm sure at this point its only a matter of time before the screen dies. Since Microsoft no longer makes the Zune the prospect of replacing one is a pricey affair, so I decided I would finally give an iPod a try. People I know rave about them and Gamestop has them refurbished for a decent price.
Prior to buying I decided to test one out by borrowing a 3rd gen 64GB iPod touch we have at work.
What I learned rather quickly is that the iPod appears to be feature deficient when it comes to its main purpose, IE playing fucking music.
Pros:
- Sounds good, on par with my Zune.
- Same size factor but thinner.
- Battery life so far seems on par with the Zune
- Shuffle - Does a pretty decent job with simple shuffle
Cons:
- App Clutter - I want a mp3 player not a replacement for my phone without the ability to call. I don't want apps I don't want BS. I want a device that plays music.
- Touchscreen - Sorry I don't like them on a mp3 player I want dedicated buttons so I don't have to fuck with the screen just to skip a song. Yes I understand I can turn on shake to shuffle but srsly all I want are some damn buttons so I'd probably look at a classic except that...
- You can't queue songs to Now Playing - This is a big one. I like keeping my player on shuffle but every once in awhile I go man I want to hear xyz song. On the Zune I can browse to that song, click add to now playing and it will queue it up as the next song while leaving the player on shuffle. The iPod apparently can't do this, if you select a song from the list it plays the song and takes the player off shuffle. Making a playlist is not a viable solution.
- FM Radio - Why the hell does it not have FM Radio? I mean maybe I live in the dark ages but I do occasionally check the radio to hear weather or news. Yes I can actually just use my phone to do this nowadays but you know sometimes I kinda like just listening to the radio for it. How fucking hard would it be to add this functionality.
So basically for more then I paid for my Zune I can have less of the features I want, more I don't want, and a mp3 player that doesn't even do what I want/need it to do.
So I'm kinda left in a position now of seeing whether I can manage to find a Zune for a reasonable amount, because I can't even find a decent non-apple MP3 player that meets my needs because Apple has basically destroyed any competition in the Mp3 market.
If you have suggestions I'm listening. I need something that plays music, has a decent battery life, is not touchscreen, allows for adding into the now player queue, has FM Radio, has good sound quality and doesn't cost a small fortune.
Edit: Just found out about Rockbox so might look into using that on an older generation iPod classic.
- Mood:
annoyed
I had the joy of visiting Denver for four days in September for a work trip, during that trip and for probably the only time in my life I woke before the sun and got to see it rise four days in a row. When you have a sleep delay waking that early never happens, unless of course you are enough hours off your normal schedule due to changing time zones.
It was nice, for the first two days, then the lack of sleep started to catch up to me.
I walked away from Denver with the following impressions:
No on there knows how to drive or do the speed limit, everyone enjoys doing 5 miles under.
Its incredibly flat, I was informed this is because I was south east of Denver.
Its also dry as hell, my nose was not amused.
The altitude is counter productive to exercise and my asthma.
It wasn't a bad trip, but I was certainly happy to be home.
All things considered the diet is also going well, I'm now down to my weight from 6 years ago, 217 lbs as of today, that's 33 lbs total lost since mid June. I've been slowly rebuilding my diet, withnegumi helping, and reintroducing healthy elements again. Our latest experiments have been with squash, and last night I made a very tasty eggplant and zucchini ratatouille.
Not denying myself food has definitely made this whole process go easier, I don't feel guilty if I have something bad, and I don't feel too bad if I miss a day at the gym. I feel great and its definitely working wonders, its also saving us a ton of money, the amount we were spending to eat out was a bit... disgusting. Dropping that amount to 1/4 its former amount does not suck.
It was nice, for the first two days, then the lack of sleep started to catch up to me.
I walked away from Denver with the following impressions:
No on there knows how to drive or do the speed limit, everyone enjoys doing 5 miles under.
Its incredibly flat, I was informed this is because I was south east of Denver.
Its also dry as hell, my nose was not amused.
The altitude is counter productive to exercise and my asthma.
It wasn't a bad trip, but I was certainly happy to be home.
All things considered the diet is also going well, I'm now down to my weight from 6 years ago, 217 lbs as of today, that's 33 lbs total lost since mid June. I've been slowly rebuilding my diet, with
negumi helping, and reintroducing healthy elements again. Our latest experiments have been with squash, and last night I made a very tasty eggplant and zucchini ratatouille.Not denying myself food has definitely made this whole process go easier, I don't feel guilty if I have something bad, and I don't feel too bad if I miss a day at the gym. I feel great and its definitely working wonders, its also saving us a ton of money, the amount we were spending to eat out was a bit... disgusting. Dropping that amount to 1/4 its former amount does not suck.
- Mood:
busy
A week ago today I was standing at the top of a Mayan temple, looking out over the jungle very happy with the fact that I managed to make it to the top. I had food poisoning, I felt miserable and I'd been up most of the night before ill.
Reaching the summit felt like a victory.
- Mood:
accomplished
So its going well, its now been almost 2 and a half months, the weight loss has slowed bit but I was also having some issues with not eating enough calories to go with a more active lifestyle. Oops.
I've lost a grand total of 17.2 lbs and I've dropped a couple inches on my waist and hips and my upper arms are significantly smaller. Yay I can wear ringer shirts comfortable now.
I've been experimenting with a lot of Japanese food recently, making my own dashi, and using a lot of miso in cooking, I'm working to expand that out to more savory foods before we get sick of stir fry.
I'm also walking more, I now get off the metro at Farragut west and walk to Dupont Circle rather then take the red line from metro center. I then walk to Farragut in the afternoon. The weather has been good, I guess the first test will be when it either rains or starts to get cold, the heat doesn't really bother me much anymore.
My cholesterol is also down, significantly. The last time I had it checked my cholesterol was 240+, its now 153. While I need to work on getting my good cholesterol up that for me is a major achievement, its been high pretty much my entire life, even as a skinny kid.
So I'd say its going great and its been a challenge some days, so tired when I get home and all I want to do is dial it in and get something quick, but I've managed to push through some.
Oh and there was this day, when I outdid my previous high steps record:
I've lost a grand total of 17.2 lbs and I've dropped a couple inches on my waist and hips and my upper arms are significantly smaller. Yay I can wear ringer shirts comfortable now.
I've been experimenting with a lot of Japanese food recently, making my own dashi, and using a lot of miso in cooking, I'm working to expand that out to more savory foods before we get sick of stir fry.
I'm also walking more, I now get off the metro at Farragut west and walk to Dupont Circle rather then take the red line from metro center. I then walk to Farragut in the afternoon. The weather has been good, I guess the first test will be when it either rains or starts to get cold, the heat doesn't really bother me much anymore.
My cholesterol is also down, significantly. The last time I had it checked my cholesterol was 240+, its now 153. While I need to work on getting my good cholesterol up that for me is a major achievement, its been high pretty much my entire life, even as a skinny kid.
So I'd say its going great and its been a challenge some days, so tired when I get home and all I want to do is dial it in and get something quick, but I've managed to push through some.
Oh and there was this day, when I outdid my previous high steps record:
I've spent years pretty much ignoring my shitty health or making only half assed attempts to really get back on the wagon about getting healthy again. I've had tons of excuses and admittedly no real drive. I'd try something, it would last a month or two, I'd get stressed and go right back to bad habits.
So when I hit 250 lbs I was pretty mortified with myself. I promised myself years ago I would never let myself get that heavy, I've watched what it has done to my mother and its not somewhere I ever wanted to be. Yet a month ago its exactly where I was.
I decided for a change and used the weeknegami was away in Florida to start. I've now been at it for a bit over a month. I've lost 13 lbs and I've gained confidence that I can do this and get the other 87 lbs off right along with those first 13.
This is not a diet. It is a lifestyle change. I've been loosely following the guidelines of the DASH diet (http://dashdiet.org/) which focuses on lowering sodium, eating whole grains and whole fruits and vegetables, increasing fiber intake, and eating low-moderate amounts of health fats. Its meant to be a lifestyle change rather then a diet.
I am not following the actual plan, I'm just following the ideas behind it in making better food choices.
A few guidelines that I've been following:
Truth be told I've only actually removed a single thing from my diet and its primarily because I know I can't just eat a single serving of it, that item being potatoes. I will probably reintroduce potatoes to my diet once I've lost more weight and feel I have better control over portions and eating. Potatoes are tasty evil things.
Good habits I already had that made this easier:
Easy changes I made:
What's important for me to note is that the first 10 lbs I lost were 100% from diet change. I did not increase my level of exercise/activity during that time period. I'm now trying for at least 20-30 minutes of exercise a day on top of what I get commuting, my fitbit has been incredible helpful for keeping track of my activity levels and how I do day to day. The exercise is credited with the 3 lbs I've lost in the last three days.
So thats it, the whole thing pretty much in a nutshell. The TL;DR versions:
Drop processd foods and eat more whole foods and grains. Don't eat sugar, eat less salt and be concious of, but not a nazi about, how much you eat.
So when I hit 250 lbs I was pretty mortified with myself. I promised myself years ago I would never let myself get that heavy, I've watched what it has done to my mother and its not somewhere I ever wanted to be. Yet a month ago its exactly where I was.
I decided for a change and used the week
negami was away in Florida to start. I've now been at it for a bit over a month. I've lost 13 lbs and I've gained confidence that I can do this and get the other 87 lbs off right along with those first 13.This is not a diet. It is a lifestyle change. I've been loosely following the guidelines of the DASH diet (http://dashdiet.org/) which focuses on lowering sodium, eating whole grains and whole fruits and vegetables, increasing fiber intake, and eating low-moderate amounts of health fats. Its meant to be a lifestyle change rather then a diet.
I am not following the actual plan, I'm just following the ideas behind it in making better food choices.
A few guidelines that I've been following:
- Be aware of what you eat. Its not about restricting or removing foods but about how much of them you eat.
- Add color. I try to select a colorful assortment of vegetables to cook with.
- Keep a moderate eye on calorie intake. I try for about 1300 calories a day and use a tracker online and on my phone.
- Increase fiber intake. I'm taking psyllium husk capsules and trying to eat more fiber rich foods.
- Lean protein, healthier fats. Focus more on fish and chicken for protein and healthier non-saturated fats.
- Eat less grains and when you do make it whole grains. Carbs are not evil, I don't personally recommend anything like Atkins
- Don't beat yourself up. When you eat something bad the world won't end, and by all means don't completely ignore cravings.
Truth be told I've only actually removed a single thing from my diet and its primarily because I know I can't just eat a single serving of it, that item being potatoes. I will probably reintroduce potatoes to my diet once I've lost more weight and feel I have better control over portions and eating. Potatoes are tasty evil things.
Good habits I already had that made this easier:
- I don't really like sugar, I don't add it to coffee or tea and I really don't like sweet drinks. I drink unsweet brewed tea, coffee and water primarily.
- I commute on mass transit. So even though I work a sedentary job I still was getting moderate amounts of walking exercise a day.
- I like cooking, even if I allowed my bad moods to give me an excuse to not cook and eat out. It makes putting that in check easier.
- My favorite evening "dessert" is a home made smoothie that consists of frozen whole berries, 1/4th cup of 0% fage greek yogurt and 3/4ths of a cup of rice dream enriched.
- I was already eating a pound of baby carrots a day as a snack at work.
Easy changes I made:
- I stir fry now, a lot. Me and negami go shopping on Sunday, spend part of that night rinsing, cutting, measuring/weighing veggies and meat that will make dinner for the rest of the week.
- I experiment more with making asian sauces at home, miso paste will definitely be a staple in the kitchen.
- Remove all white rice and white bread and replace it with brown rice and whole grain. Brown rice can be tricky to make properly but the rice cooker I have pretty much solved that problem.
- We switched to using smaller dishes. Yeah I know it sounds stupid but it works. We use the smaller "Dessert" plates now for dinner and some asian rice bowls I have which are a perfect portion of rice.
What's important for me to note is that the first 10 lbs I lost were 100% from diet change. I did not increase my level of exercise/activity during that time period. I'm now trying for at least 20-30 minutes of exercise a day on top of what I get commuting, my fitbit has been incredible helpful for keeping track of my activity levels and how I do day to day. The exercise is credited with the 3 lbs I've lost in the last three days.
So thats it, the whole thing pretty much in a nutshell. The TL;DR versions:
Drop processd foods and eat more whole foods and grains. Don't eat sugar, eat less salt and be concious of, but not a nazi about, how much you eat.
- Mood:
sleepy
Given I just ran into soap today at my office that is now floral scented and giving me a headache I figured I'd take a moment to chronicle something I'm experimenting with. I've never really been a huge fan of scented soap or hygiene products, even as a small child my skin was so sensitive that my parents could only certain soaps on me. So the habit probably persisted in adulthood. This is of course combined with the fact that I am extremely sensitive to smells. Strong smells, especially fragrances or perfumes have always given me a headache or made me sick to my stomach.
So about three months ago I happened across an article online. Basic gist is someone had decided to forgo commercial soap and shampoo for everything but their hands and claimed it was going swimmingly. Some research later and I found this is a small fad even with women to drop shampoo and conditioner and soap, many claim their hair and skin feels and acts better afterwards as well. I'm not going to go into the details of the why but the basic argument is that commercial soaps strip our skin and hair of necessary oils and bacteria thus causing dryness and frizzing.
I've been a fairly constant victim of frizz my entire life, you name it, I've tried it. But thankfully aside from rosacea and some sensitively I decent skin. So reading the information back in early January I decided, what the fuck I'll give it a try.
Now about three months later I'd like to share the results of my experiment. But first here is basically what I've been doing:
My results:
The upcoming summer months will be a real test to see if this is viable. But for right now? So happy I tried it.
So about three months ago I happened across an article online. Basic gist is someone had decided to forgo commercial soap and shampoo for everything but their hands and claimed it was going swimmingly. Some research later and I found this is a small fad even with women to drop shampoo and conditioner and soap, many claim their hair and skin feels and acts better afterwards as well. I'm not going to go into the details of the why but the basic argument is that commercial soaps strip our skin and hair of necessary oils and bacteria thus causing dryness and frizzing.
I've been a fairly constant victim of frizz my entire life, you name it, I've tried it. But thankfully aside from rosacea and some sensitively I decent skin. So reading the information back in early January I decided, what the fuck I'll give it a try.
Now about three months later I'd like to share the results of my experiment. But first here is basically what I've been doing:
- I no longer use shampoo or conditioner. I use water, baking soda and apple cider vinegar. I also moved away from using a brush and now use a comb.
- I no longer use soap on any part of my body but my hands. I use baking soda to scrub off some areas of my body as needed.
- I still use deodorant, specifically Tom's of Maine's unscented.
My results:
- My hair is much more managable my dandruff has also decreased. I still get some frizz but not nearly as bad. My hair also has more texture now and feels softer. No it does not smell, though I have noticed a different smell now when I wash.
- With the exception of my hands my skin is softer and smoother, I don't even have rough skin on my elbows anymore. Even my feet but have always been rough (I walk barefoot alot) are softer
The upcoming summer months will be a real test to see if this is viable. But for right now? So happy I tried it.
- Mood: busy
- Noise:Combichrist - Today we are all Demons
I'm utterly exhausted but I just wanted to post the total taken in for Child's Play during PAX by the Cookie Brigade this year:
Over $9,600.
Over $9,600.
PAX East is just around the corner it seems, less then a month away now, time has really flown by the past couple months. I've been making candy since December for the Cookie Brigade, I've already surpassed what I managed to make for PAX Prime last year. Its also far better and way tastier this time too.
So hopefully it'll be a nice boon towards the Cookie Brigades efforts to raise money and we'll see about surpassing the $7900 that was raised last year at Prime for Child's Play.
Life has also been busy, nothing really of note, I've done some writing, been playing some City of Heroes, organizing and cleaning around the house and getting out to socialize and play Deathwatch (40K). The kitten has gotten huge, though very sweet he's also very dumb at times.
He wrestles a lot with Sphinx, who is thankfully starting to lose some weight now.
They also have a new toy they thoroughly enjoy as well.
I also celebrated 7 years withnegumi yesterday, I still can't believe we've been together so long, it hasn't felt like it, and in that time we've both been through and done a lot. I'm grateful to have had him with me through it as support or as someone to share the experience with. Given everything else I wonder how I lucked out, but I won't knock it, I'll just continue to be thankful each day.
Now, to get back to being productive.
So hopefully it'll be a nice boon towards the Cookie Brigades efforts to raise money and we'll see about surpassing the $7900 that was raised last year at Prime for Child's Play.
Life has also been busy, nothing really of note, I've done some writing, been playing some City of Heroes, organizing and cleaning around the house and getting out to socialize and play Deathwatch (40K). The kitten has gotten huge, though very sweet he's also very dumb at times.
He wrestles a lot with Sphinx, who is thankfully starting to lose some weight now.
They also have a new toy they thoroughly enjoy as well.
I also celebrated 7 years with
negumi yesterday, I still can't believe we've been together so long, it hasn't felt like it, and in that time we've both been through and done a lot. I'm grateful to have had him with me through it as support or as someone to share the experience with. Given everything else I wonder how I lucked out, but I won't knock it, I'll just continue to be thankful each day.Now, to get back to being productive.
- Mood:
grateful
2010 was a year of giving for me, I spent a good portion of my time and energy giving back as much as I could when able. That I have to admit felt good. I won't bore with a drawn out post but I figured for my own benefit I'd post a list of 2010 milestones.
This is probably not complete, so I reserve space here for whennegumi goes, OMG how did you forget x, y and z. I've got early onset Alzheimers, I swear.
This is probably not complete, so I reserve space here for when
negumi goes, OMG how did you forget x, y and z. I've got early onset Alzheimers, I swear.- Visited Seattle twice! Love the city, decided to plan to eventually move there.
- Visited Detroit! Got to explore the derelict Michgan Central Train station with ravrhi. Fun was had, pictures were taken.
- Attended PAX twice. PAX East was in Boston in March, and PAX Prime was in Seattle in September.
- Helped raise money for Child's Play via the PAX Prime cookie brigade. I made space invader candy, and had fun. I'll be doing this in 2011 for PAX East and maybe PAX Prime.
- Took over two major fan websites for City of Heroes, VirtueVerse and UnionVerse.
- Adopted a new kitten, Roo. He's a handful but we love him anyways.
- Pitched in to Real World Hero to raise money for four charities.
- Bought my fitbit and started to really try and put some effort into getting in shape.
- Did quite a bit of writing and actually did some artwork. Albeit generally for just myself.
- On a bad note I started having nerve issues in my hands, some days I have no feeling or tingling, exercise and trying not to sleep badly is helping though!
- My job started out very stressful, but got better by midyear, the year ended on a high note with a raise and a bonus.
- Moved into a larger apartment and started finally getting rid of stuff. Many things were donated or sold. Many more to go.
- Went to the DC Roller Derby, it was fun we'll have to check it out again sometime.
- Did true tabletop RP for the first time and enjoyed it. Looking forward to continuing both games hopefully.
- Oh yeah! Finally made it out to Chicago for the ATR show and got to meet Russ! How the hell did I forget about that?
All in all? It was a good year and I got to spend it with negumi which makes it extra awesome.
- Mood:
complacent - Noise:Terrorfakt - Mephisto
