Hi Friends.

[Chad Peter]

Holy shit. I'm wiped out. Just wrapped a bunch of jobs and left another. Now I'm FREE.

How ya'll been? Whatcha working on? Anything?

[Lance]

Sup.

Right now I'm training an apprentice, deciding whether or not a new artist is going to work out or not, and learning to tattoo with a loss of dexterity and sensation in my hands.

I've been teaching myself DaVinci Resolve and trying to get back into Unreal Engine but people keep asking me to do other stuff if I want them to give me money. Selfish bastards.

[Chad Peter]

Yikes, to lose the sensation/dexterity in your hands when it is so important in your line of work... Hopefully that comes back soon! Is there a general timeline they've given you, for that to return? Or kinda 'take it as it comes'?

[Lance]

Yikes, to lose the sensation/dexterity in your hands when it is so important in your line of work... Hopefully that comes back soon! Is there a general timeline they've given you, for that to return? Or kinda 'take it as it comes'?

Will it get better? It all depends on which part of the nerve has been damaged, and how bad the damage is, whether or not it'll repair itself. Most of the time it's just mitigating the damage and learning to cope. They put me on some medication that has taken the edge off but there are good and bad days. It hasn't affected my ability to apply a good tattoo but It has drastically reduced my endurance, and so reduced how much I produce daily. We are still looking into what's causing it. I suspect it's form my neck, after eliminating extreme sleep deprivation and coinciding autoimmune issues. That means going to another specialist who wants an MRI that insurance won't approve until I get an x-ray that won't show the specialist what they need to see...insurance companies could cut a ton of unnecessary payouts if they just listened to the medical professionals.

Loss of sensation is actually less bothersome than the other random, painful sensations and sudden loss of function that happens from time to time. Losing balance, dropping things, pulling my hand out of my pocket and feeling like I've peeled the skin off and set it on fire, lips going numb, walking on needles, so on.

Anyway, it is what it is. Push hard and push on.

[Chad Peter]

Yikes, damn dude. Sounds brutal and almost MS like. If you want to be Chad Peter for a minute, you can borrow my insurance and get your scans.

[Lance]

Yikes, damn dude. Sounds brutal and almost MS like. If you want to be Chad Peter for a minute, you can borrow my insurance and get your scans.

Some of the same symptoms of MS, and it hasn't been ruled out yet, but I don't feel like it's quite as bad as that. I just work with my diminished capacity until I literally can't. I still get a ton of shit done because I haven't/refuse to learn my limits, I just pay more of a price these days. Meh.

As far as the insurance fraud, Freaky Friday identity switch thing, appreciate the offer. One of the many reasons I won't cheat on my wife is I don't want to have to learn to be with someone new. I've barely learned to be myself, I don't want to learn to be you .
Kidding aside, we have good insurance, they just want to pay for me jump through unnecessary hoops before they pay for the necessary procedure.

Any way, back on topic. I scribbled down a script for a mock commercial for what was initially intended to be the tattoo shop I work at, but now i'm thinking I may try to get the guys at our Everett shop involved. It's a bigger shop, more room to move cameras around and get the angles I'm imagining. If I can pull it off it will be fucking hilarious, at least to me.

[Chad Peter]

If I can pull it off it will be fucking hilarious, at least to me.

Sounds like the perfect reason to make it. DO IT. DO IT NOW.

[Bryan Harley]

Yooooo, I forgot this place still exists, also forgot my password, new account, who dis?

I listened to Corridor Digital's latest podcast with Mrdodobird himself, Ian Hubert. There was a small part at the end when they were BSing about TFN, fan films, Duality, Ryan vs Dorkman, Sorenson Squeeze. Ian even shouted out Teague! Shit really brought me back. I miss you guys.

As far as creative projects, I'm not doing a damn thing. But I'm working and enjoy my work, so there's that.

We need to do an Np2k Reunion in LA. Set that shit up and I'll be there!

[Chad Peter]

Sorenson squeeze. Holy fuck.

An NP2k reunion would consist of myself, Lank, Mark Heiliger (secretagent007), Branco (if we can find free time with him) and maybe Finifter, who I think is still around. Teague is gone - back home to wherever - and I'm not sure who else is still here. I'm probably forgetting some folks. It's sad.

[Heiliger]

Don't be sad, Chad. I'm here now.