A fair bit has happened since my last post, the major thing being that I've been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
It wasn't a massive shock, I was symptomatic, so thought that was probably what it was. Unfortunately the blood tests also showed an extreme deficiency of vitamin D. A low count would be 30. Mine was <10.
So lots of new and exciting drugs to take. I've just finished taking Gliclazide and moved onto Metformin for the 'Beetus. Still taking Sertraline for anxiety and depression and also Vitamin D tablets that are 500% of recommended daily intake.
I've had a fair bit of time off work as I've been so chronically fatigued that I just can't manage it, which is a symptom of … you guessed it, Diabetes. And vitamin D deficiency. Oh, and depression. Great. Triple whammy.
The only upside so far is that I've lost weight due to changing my diet, (goodbye white bread, pasta and rice, goodbye alcohol - I'll miss you most of all!) and moved on to a low GI diet, in addition to my veganism. I can have the odd beer or glass of wine or plate of chips but not often. Ho hum. I also started a diabetes blog at The Second Type Blog. Have a look if you feel like it.
The vitamin D thing means I have to actively try to spend time in sunlight, which is difficult when you're too tired to get out of bed, and when you do make it in to work, you can't even see a window from where you work. (I have 2 jobs and I can't see daylight in either of them!)
On the plus side, we had 3 of our friends move in to the flat upstairs which is awesome, especially considering we all play D&D together. I never played D&D as a kid, but as a 42 year old I'm fucking hooked to the point of obsession!
I went and got the D&D symbol for rogue tattooed on my right forearm last Tuesday: (I'm playing a Dark Elf Rogue.)
Then two days later it was may 4th and I ended up getting 3 more tattoos - An awesome Stormtrooper Helmet and Empire logo first, then I went back to get some Aurabesh later and ended up getting Darth Vader's Lightsaber as well!
(The Aurabesh is along the outside of my left arm and it says "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away …" but I don't have a pic ATM. It looks like this:
4 tattoos in 3 days! Normally it's years between getting them. Already got more planned, including the D&D dragon ampersand, done as if it was made from cracked stone and smoke to go around my Rogue symbol.
My wife got this awesome Star Wars/Harry Potter Dark Mark mashup:
In other news the podcast is doing well. we just released episode 5. If you're a Star Wars fan check it out: The Garbage Will Do Podcast
I also started branching out into the world of voiceover work - no actual work yet, but I'm getting ready to get a demo reel recorded and sent out. It's something I've been thinking about for a while as I do a lot of voices and accents etc. I went on a workshop for learning to do voiceover and characters for video games, which would be an amazing way to make a living!
Yes, that's me recording dialogue, before I had the new tattoos and lost weight. It was an awesome day and I've got the basics of a home studio set up thanks to buying stuff for the podcast, along with a few additional purchases:
In terms of the photography, it's been going rather slowly, but I did a wedding recently and also some headshots, both of which promised to refer me to other people. I've also done a few personal projects, like creating new promo photos for the podcast:
I also shot some stuff for a local hairdressers, for them to enter a L'Oreal competition. The photos got them into the comp, but they didn't win, sadly.
