Akai Riot

Akai Riot

@akairiot.com

Artist/Creator ♂ I love blue hair. Some NSFW. All my image posts have alt text! www.akairiot.com www.patreon.com/akairiot

68.5K followers527 following2.5K posts

There's a terrible irony in that if you express that you feel lonely, you're more likely to continue to be lonely -- and that if you already have an active and engaging social and/or love life, you'll have an easier time finding even more people to hang out with or be romantically involved with.

Anyway, I've been feeling amazing mentally for awhile, but this happens to be one of those random downturn days where my brain's latching onto bummer shit, lol. Got the classic "I am unlovable, I will always be alone and nobody cares, I deserve my fate" spiral going. But it'll pass, life is good. 😊

> started watching the NBA (mostly Nuggets) last year via highlights on YouTube > finally decided to bite the bullet and get an NBA streaming subscription > see there's a game live right now, alright fine, let's see what I've been missing! > it's a guy doing handstands with his chihuahua at halftime

related, I think it's dystopian how integrated sports betting has become with every aspect of the NBA (and I assume other sports, I don't watch anything else) DraftKings can eat my entire ass, get outta here you predatory fuckers

...am I allowed to say I kinda enjoyed the Street Fighter movie? Went in with really low expectations, so maybe that helped. Many character choices did not land (I do not like this Bison at all), messy pacing and tone, vapid references that miss the point, dumb CGI, and yet...it was somehow *fun*.

The animated segments were, of course, fucking awesome. I want a whole-ass movie of just that!! Ken and Ryu worked for me. Some of the fights were cool (when they didn't overdo it with CGI, the choreo was often tight and impactful). Guile is literally just Cody Rhodes and yes, I liked that.

And most importantly to me, it felt weirdly earnest. A dorky dumb movie from real people and not a watered-down studio-mandated carefully-crafted A-B-tested yawnfest. Choices were made that I don't agree with, but creative humans made those choices believing they were fun, and sometimes they were.

It's frustrating that I basically only have two modes of "diet" -- either I eat in a way that feels right/satisfies me and I end up naturally between 270 and 300 pounds, or I count every single calorie like a psycho and starve myself for months and lose the weight but feel like shit the whole time.

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And doubly hard to explain is that it's much, much harder to just barely undereat than it is to starve myself. Cutting 200 calories is harder than going sicko mode and eating grilled chicken and mustard. I know that makes no sense, and I don't know why my brain works like that, but it does, lol.

Or maybe a better way to put it is, the strain on my brain is equal whether I'm eating a little less or a lot less. It requires constant vigilance either way, and always sitting with this feeling of dissatisfaction -- so if I'm going to suffer anyway, I might as well get bigger/faster results.

It's frustrating that I basically only have two modes of "diet" -- either I eat in a way that feels right/satisfies me and I end up naturally between 270 and 300 pounds, or I count every single calorie like a psycho and starve myself for months and lose the weight but feel like shit the whole time.

Having lost weight many times, whether it was 12 or 120 pounds, I know I'm capable of it. But it also never gets easier -- it's *simple*, it's incredibly simple. Burn more calories than I consume and I lose weight. But it's not *easy*. It takes so much mental bandwidth for me, it's hard to explain.

Made a list of 25 albums to start with, and I'll slowly build up my digital library over time. ...honestly, the idea of going back to a small curated collection of music sounds very appealing, instead of the ADHD-brained "lemme listen to 40 different things every hour" way I've been living lately.

Akai Riot@akairiot.com

My Spotify account spontaneously stopped working today, and it may have radicalized me into getting back into physical media again, lol. Or at the very least, having a robust library of downloaded mp3s. It's super convenient to stream any song I want, any time I want...until suddenly, I can't.

I also looked into DAPs but, fuck -- they're either Chinese knockoffs with gibberish names and AI-generated product pages, or name-brand luxury glass-and-metal bricks with a big knob on them that cost twice as much as my phone, will apparently allow you to hear God herself, but have 10GB of storage.

My Spotify account spontaneously stopped working today, and it may have radicalized me into getting back into physical media again, lol. Or at the very least, having a robust library of downloaded mp3s. It's super convenient to stream any song I want, any time I want...until suddenly, I can't.

And I know, I know, Spotify is bad, they take advantage of artists and they do stupid AI shit and the only moral method of music consumption is to buy hand-pressed vinyl records directly from the back of the band's touring van. But I love music! I listen to music all day! I want it easy to access!

Yesterday was the worst I've felt (mentally) in like 3 or 4 years. It was like all ambition and inner spark had drained out of me again. Everything was a struggle. I kept thinking about how I was doomed to a life of loneliness and suffering. Today I woke up, felt totally fine, been smiling all day.

Akai Riot@akairiot.com

They increased the dosage on my nerve pain meds, and it's been a very interesting roller coaster. First day, best I've felt in like 3 years. No pain, no brain fog, no muscle spasms. Second day, REALLY BAD. Everything hurt, body and brain. Third day, good. Then bad. Then good, then bad, etc etc

It's weird how, even when I know for certain with the logical part of my mind that the feelings (or lack of feelings) are just the drugs messing with my brain chemicals, I can't simply will them away. Makes it easier to ride them out, for sure, but they're still *there*.

Anyway, today I feel awesome! Hardly any pain, mind is sharp, things are fun. And even when my neck gets triggered, I stretch a lil bit and it goes away just like that! My muscles actually listen to me, it's great! So, even if the lows are pretty damn low, I think it'll be worth it in the long run.

I really do miss doodling for fun (i.e., not with the intent of producing a shareable piece for Patreon/social media), but my nerve issues kinda preclude that now. I already go overboard on work stuff sometimes and end up wrecked...if I drew after work too, I'd hit a breaking point sooner or later.

One of the many reasons I'm interested in trying more 3D/Blender! Anything I can do to give my body a break from drawing but still create stuff is fucking awesome. I should probably work on music more, too. And writing. None of those things pay my bills (yet) but...neither did drawing, years ago.

> find a reference that works really well for an idea I have, but it's from the wrong angle > open Blender, recreate the pose matching the angle of the reference > move the camera to the angle I wanted

the 3D models in Clip Studio Paint were convenient, but holy shit, learning the basics of Blender is such a step up I can always find the reference I want!! because I can make that shit myself!! hell yeah!!

"but isn't copying a reference from Blender cheating? shouldn't I create every form within my own mind by plucking the ideas from the ether, just pure Platonic ideals? you know, *real* artists can create art from nothing, and--" SILENCE, SELF-DOUBTING NEGATIVITY BRAIN YOU HOLD NO POWER HERE, DEMON

They increased the dosage on my nerve pain meds, and it's been a very interesting roller coaster. First day, best I've felt in like 3 years. No pain, no brain fog, no muscle spasms. Second day, REALLY BAD. Everything hurt, body and brain. Third day, good. Then bad. Then good, then bad, etc etc

Last night I got hit with a muscle spasm in my neck at like 7pm and spent the rest of the evening dizzy, nauseous and lying on the couch. Today, I feel like a million bucks. Apparently it's supposed to balance out eventually, but the adjustment period could be 4-6 weeks, so...yee haw, lol 🙂

Honestly, while I've been rewatching the original anime, I've been thinking a lot about how dripped the fuck out everybody is, lol Gimme a mix of like 50% Yugi, 40% Joey and 10% Kaiba vibes. Edgy base and accessories, comfy streetwear, and also going way too hard every once in awhile just because.

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I love Yugi's fits overall, but I do not have the Egyptian twink body type for skinny leather pants and a form-fitting tank top. If I can't do a roundhouse kick while wearing something, it's too tight!

I find fashion cues challenging, because I grew up in the 90s in rural Iowa and got most of my clothes up through college from garage sales and Walmart. I dunno what anything is supposed to signify, what subculture it's in, what's cool or not cool. I just wanna be edgy and comfy at the same time.

If I was making myself in a character creator, unrestrained by the bounds of finances or shame or the fact that I'm kinda pudgy, I would be like...some weird mix of punk, metal, grunge, skater, psychobilly, K-pop music video and 90s-core. Osiris shoes and tattoos and eyeliner and a leather jacket.