by Roy Blumenthal on July 30, 2006
I’m now on my fifth day of starting Zoloft, a medication akin to Prozac, used for fighting depression, and, in my case anxiety.
I’ve been distrustful of psychiatry for decades. Especially the decade after reading THE LOONEY BIN TRIP, in which feminist bipolar sufferer, Kate Millett, finds herself incarcerated not once, but twice, in a mental institution, against her will, by her lover.
Things have changed.
Medications now are cleaner, more targeted, more predictably helpful.
For me, the anxiety is the hectic thing. Depression I’ve coped with all my life. But anxiety. Jeeeeeez. It’s the worst.
Right now, for instance, I’m sitting drawing heavy gulps of air to try and fill my lungs.
Shouldn’t the Zoloft be helping?
Well, yeah… in a few weeks. Right now I’m still in the side-effect zone. Which translates to the feeling that I’ve drunk 40 cups of coffee. I’m jolting around the place, but unbearably tired too. But hey. Should wear off by tomorrow night.
When I got home earlier, I decided a cup of tea in darkness would be exactly the right calming thing for me to have. Hence this pic.
This painting was made using ArtRage 2.11 on a Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc with a cuppa tea to hand. Lipton, if you’re wondering.
by Roy Blumenthal on July 30, 2006
Here are some of my voice-clips, in case you were thinking of using me as a voice artist.
Thanks to the wonders of ISDN, and the fact that South Africa has a very highly advanced advertising industry, I’m available to do work wherever you are.
The best way to book me is through my agent, Shane Vorster, at X-Factor. Phone
ZA +27 11 884 7515 or +27 11 884 7512. Email shane@x-factor.co.za.
Here they are:
Roy’s Voice — Character — Home Tech Expo (with Jannes Eiselen in HardSell mode)
Here I play the ‘Sound Engineer’, with Jannes Eiselen playing ‘The Hardsell Announcer’. (Book Jannes through his agent, Leads. Phone ZA +27 11 782 1162. Email info@leadsartists.co.za.
Roy’s Voice — Soft-Sell — Karinna’s Sparkling Water
This is me sounding soft and calm, lending some colour and class to a bottle of water.
Roy’s Voice — Corporate — Action Mortgage
This is a straight corporate read, very close to my normal speaking voice.
Roy’s Voice — HardSell — Hot, Sexy, Now!
I do a muscled hardsell on this spot. It’s an alternate take on ‘Hot
Sexy Now’ which also features in this series of voice-pieces.
Roy’s Voice — Sexy-Sell — Hot, Sexy, Now!
Here I do a sultry sexy-sell version of ‘Hot Sexy Now’, an alternate take to the hardsell version.
Roy’s Voice — Comedy Hardsell — Interlink Airlines
I play both voices in this spot… the ‘Singing Santa’ and the ‘Announcer’.
I’m looking forward to… uh… I’m listening forward… fast forwarding… uh… I’d love to do voice work for you!
Blue skies
love
Roy
Tags: royblumenthal, roy blumenthal, blumenthal, voiceover, voice-over, voice over, voice artist, voiceover artist, voiceoverartist, voiceartist, coffeeshopschmuck
by Roy Blumenthal on July 28, 2006
The topic for Illustration Friday this week is ‘Clean’.
Which gives me the excuse to paint my bathroom. And to reflect a bit on clean starts in relationships.
I’m working through a book called PARTNERING: A New Kind Of Relationship, by Hal Stone & Sidra Stone. It’s awesome.
Their main premises are:
1. An individual is made up of several selves… primary selves and discarded selves.
2. We attract into our lives people who ‘carry’ our discarded selves.
3. We manifest different selves depending on context, and what self our partner is presenting to us.
4. These selves interact differently with each other.
5. Being aware of which self is communicating (in both you and your partner) clears the way for compassionate and unloaded commuication and loving.
6. Being presented with your discarded selves is a gift to allow you to reclaim them, and operate from a place they call ‘the aware ego’.
7. Integrating these selves gives you balance, and allows harmonious relationship.
I wrote ‘S’ a long email last night, trying to offer her a glimpse of the turmoil within me. Parts of me reallllly love her and want her. Other ’selves’ within me are irritated with her, angry with her.
I wanted her to see that this is NOT a simple, cut-and-dried case of ‘we’re not a good match’. Cos we ARE a good match. We’ve got powerful stuff to teach each other and learn from each other.
It’s weird. I’m about a quarter of the way through the book, and it’s like a weight has been lifted off me. I’ve been trying to be perfect for ‘S’. And I’ve kind of expected and demanded that she be perfect for me.
Now, I’m sitting here feeling grateful to her for showing me the parts of myself that I need to get back in touch with. Cos those discarded selves she ‘carries’ are the bits I threw away through co-dependence and abuse as a child.
If you want to start cleaning up your relationship, I seriously recommend that you get this book.
This painting was made using ArtRage 2.11 on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc. And no… the water wasn’t running while I painted.
