#my second art post of january!! woohoo!!

[camelspit]

kotlc hand hcs!!! <3

@skylilac @callas-pancake-tree @arson-anarchy-death @steal-nightmares-leave-dreams @neverseen-nevermore @abubble125 @purplesoup-lad-le @gay-otlc @thefoxysnake @keeper-of-the-lost-dadwin @ravs6709 @i-loved-while-i-lied @kamikothe1and0nly @that-glasses-dog @presidentroarie @even-if-in-another-time @nyxpixels @slozhnos @katniss-elizabeth-chase @sofia-not-sophie @moontoastt @lemon-girl-in-devil-town @three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat @purpleunicycle @just-a-honey-badger @loverofallthingssmart @antisocialdork @tamsong @cutebisexualmess

[hypersomniagame]

HYPERSOMNIA JANUARY DEV LOG : "LOG 1, WOOHOO!"

Hi! For all of you who follow HYPERSOMNIA, or are just stopping by, let me introduce you to this post to really set the tone.

For 2024, I am going to try to release a dev log about HYPERSOMNIA once a month, may come earlier, may come a little late, but I'm doing this to help give insight on to how the game is going, and to give me motivation to work on the game.

First things first, big news!

HYPERSOMNIA IS NOW AVAILABLE TO WISHLIST ON STEAM! (LINK)

After a while of back and forwarding with Valve, I've finally got a Steam page to call my own, and MAN is it bizarre seeing my weird little RPG in my Steam library. Like, that's my logo, and my key art, and screenshots of MY game, that's so weird. It doesn't feel real. BUT IT IS!

And, I would really really really really really appreciate it if you would consider wishlisting the game on Steam. It helps with the algorithm, and my happiness because I like seeing numbers go up, it feels good.

I even drew this as a announcement/commemoration for the page going live.

(P.S; if you couldn't tell, I really like Half-Life, it's one of my favorite game series.)

Secondly...

A new trailer is in the works! We were accepted for this year's MOTHER Direct (4th time baby, whoo!)

The trailer has been coming along well, I hope to show more battle oriented clips that I've missed the last few years, like special moves.

Can you believe I've never actually gotten to adding those in the game? I mean, they come set-up in default RPG Maker projects but I've never gotten around to revamping them until now, year 4 of engine work. Isn't that strange?

I also hope to improve on editing in the trailers. Whenever I finish a trailer I come back a few months later to notice minor points where I was kinda sloppy.

I'm not much of a video editor, (I only learned so I could edit trailers on my own) but I'd like to keep them at a good presentable quality. You gotta have standards with that kinda stuff, it's important!

OK, TIME FOR THE ACTUAL GAME STUFF. HERE WE GO.

Abilities are now implemented! And work! Wahoo!

In HYPERSOMNIA, players are able to switch abilities between party members. I find this a really interesting mechanic for how simple it seems, you get to choose who plays what role in your party. I think this is HUGE, and opens up a lot of unique scenarios for the game's encounters. I've had this planned for years, as far back as 2021 if I can recall, so it's super cool seeing it in game.

Mapping is being worked on!

I've also been working on mapping out more areas of the game! The forest part you hopefully saw in the last trailer is almost completely mapped. I've been working on the second part to it and am hoping to finish it sometime soon.

Mapping forests really suck. THOUGH, almost all the maps for the first chapter of the game are done! That's just another step closer to the demo. (Which, FYI, will be on Steam and Itch! ^^)

I've also been working on re-spriting older scenes!

This one's been really fun to do, I've been going back and redoing older stuff from the 2022 trailer, like this train! It's weird seeing it side by side, because you can definitely see where it's come from but at the same time, it looks so different.

(Also side note, these sprites are CRUSTY! EWWW!)

Lastly, Script and Music updates!

The script for HYPERSOMNIA's first act has been completed! with just 37 pages of just cutscene dialog alone! We're also currently working on wrapping up NPC dialog! Not much else to say.

And music is being worked on!

Music has been making some progress! I like to lay out demo's for areas I'm mapping out to help make both the music and scene come together. (Also, to help break up the eerie silence when playtesting...)

Speaking of music, FIREBALL, the games main battle theme, was recently delisted on our YouTube channel.

We did this because we decided we wanted to resample FIREBALL, and found that it's best to not have the song uploaded until a complete, final version is made. At least for the demo, it could possibly change before the final game but that's a bit too far in the future for me to think about fully.

Hey! Thanks for reading the whole dev log! Unless you just skipped to the end, you should probably go back up and read it. there's a steam page now. and some cool ross art at the top. you're missing out!

I hope this was like, readable to you all. I'm new to this whole dev log thing, so if you read it all the way through, let me know! It'd be cool!

I'd like to use this portion to pretty much just advertise Unique Indie RPG's.

Have you ever seen that strange purple square at the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd HYPERSOMNIA trailers?

Yeah, that! That's UNIQUE INDIE RPG's, which is a Discord community for you guessed it, Unique Indie RPG videogames developed by people like me! Or you! Or whoever! Who cares!

I help run it with some of my friends, and we all share cool stuff about our videogames! There's a ton of other SUPER cool RPG Maker games there like Astral Guard [LINK], or SOMEWHEN [LINK], or even MOMOinc [LINK]!

And of course, HYPERSOMNIA. It's a really laid back community, we're all super chill. Come swing by! We'd love to have ya, and SHOW US YOUR GAME!

[LINK TO DISCORD SERVER]

TWITTER

YOUTUBE

STEAM

UNIQUE INDIE RPG'S [SHOW US YOUR GAME!]

[PREV] [ABOUT HYPERSOMNIA] [NEXT]

[asiadoesstuff]

Ok ok guys so a lot has happened in the past couple of days.

So, on the 17th January, Fandroid came back!!! Woohoo!!! 🥳

And that’s amazing, right? It is!! 😆 But something fishy happened…

So, today, I found out that apparently both Fandroid and Melody joined the Roblox Game: ���Starving Artist’.

And obviously, they made some art! But it was kinda ominous, like Mandela Catalogue kinda ominous… (Credits to kronderflopping._ on TikTok for the images):

Now, although you might see nothing in these, I do see something. Let’s go over it:

So, the 1st Picture kind of looks like a Gas Mask.

What were Gas Masks originally used for? To keep toxic chemicals out of you during the war. Fandroid mentioned something about “coming back from the war”. Although people usually say that jokingly after leaving their Social Media Account for a long time, I think in this case Fandroid might be serious. (As in the Character, not Griff himself).

The 2nd Painting has Secret Messages.

Now, this is where it gets very ominous. Obviously, as you can see, this is a sign for help. With what, I might not be sure. Maybe Fandroid is still fighting a “war”, just not a physical one. The ‘us’ in ‘Save Us’ is most probably referring to both Fandroid and Melody, but maybe ‘Us’ could be referring to more than 2 people.

The 3rd Painting looks like a Human.

Sure, this is already creepy, but what’s more creepy is this looks similar to another theory about Fandroid. Ever heard of the Theory where Fandroid could be a human child in a robot’s body? Yeah, this painting of a human looks extremely similar to the fanon human child design. That, or it’s a painting of Griff, or it’s just a random human.

There’s another Painting; it has another secret message.

Now, this gives me major ‘about to introduce a villain’ vibes, or it’s actually Fandroid assuring his fans that he’s there. Or, it’s something else that is saying it’s there. The “Static” kind of looks like Static on a TV. Fandroid’s head is similar to a TV.

And if you thought that was creepy, wait until you see this.

After the Paintings were made, the human painting was pulled up, and this happened:

I’m gonna be honest: I’m not 100% sure what this means. In the first image, it looks a bit like some hands were drawn on, and the eyes have been slashed out with red. Maybe it represents the person drawn went blind? Or something else which I don’t know how to put into words…

The 2nd Image has been scribbled over with red. Maybe that says the person in the image got killed/erased?

The 3rd image has some sort of character drawn ontop of the red scribbles. That could be a New Character, or the thing that killed/erased the person, or maybe it’s the enemy Fandroid is ‘fighting’ with?

And that’s not all, look what what Fandroid and Melody said…

“We are trying to get back.” This sentence feels extremely important. Maybe they aren’t back from this ‘War’, or maybe they are and a new one has started.

“Please don’t forget.” Either this is extremely lore-important, or maybe Fandroid is saying that he hopes we won’t forget him and Melody. That, or something is about to happen that could either kill or erase both of them. (I really hope that doesn’t mean Griff’s gonna deactivate the account…)

And that’s my Theory. Either I have Cracked The Code, Cracked part of it, or I’m insane.

Maybe this is New Lore to a new start of the Fandroid Legacy, or maybe this is a way to put Fandroid to bed and to deactivate the account. (Please don’t be the second one…)

I’ll keep making these until this Lore has been completely pieced together, stay tuned!! 😁

Cya in the next Post!! 😄 Bye!! 😊👋

[crystaloregarden]

to update on my life since the last post i put up about my financial situation, i DID finally land a second job that will take me for 24 hours a week, which puts me at 56 hours a week between both jobs at 14-15/hr. it's not much, but it should at least keep me afloat, hopefully. i'm keeping up the donation post until january, because i already know i'm not going to make rent THIS month due to car troubles.

i've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and next year i want to increase my creative output. this year's wasn't *bad*, especially not for how much shit i went through and would've had every right to just do nothing but sleep and recover, but i've been fixating so hard on my OCs that at this point i want to actually have something to SHOW for it besides just private rps with the handful of people involved in their storylines.

i also want to change the way i go about it. re: feeling weirdly unfulfilled about my art and writing, i came to the realization that if someone threw all my technology into the ocean, i would have basically nothing to show for all the creative work i've done, and that disturbs me. in this day and age it's more important than ever to keep a healthy distance from technology, ESPECIALLY as an artist, so i've decided i'm gonna try drawing in physical mediums more often. i'm not the best at drawing with a pencil and paper anymore, but i'm not awful at it, so i'll at least have a nice starting point. plus, i have a printer+scanner now, so anything i want to upload can be of better quality than just my phone camera! woohoo!

i'm not sure what this means for my writing just yet... i might start trying to keep a journal again. i always feel a ton better after writing for a long time in a physical book, but my wrist tends to suffer and trying to force myself off the beaten path of my routines will never NOT be a struggle.

a lot of things are gonna feel like a struggle in 2024, due to the hours i'm gonna have to work to stay afloat, but i think i can do it. i've done way harder things than breaking routines and working on creative hobbies before, and i'll benefit from it in the long run.

next year will be better. i'm not tempting fate, i'm taking it into my own hands.

[zillaofthevalley]

so far, so okay

well, well, well...long time no chat. how the hell are ya? it's been a minute since i've last tumblr'd and i was actually on the other day. on the 10th it was my 21st birthday and i wrote out this lengthy lengthy message about a whole spiel of things and then scrapped it for whatever reason so here we are again. i have a few life updates and things i would love to chat with you about. since i last posted a lot has changed i'm not sure what was in my first post but here i will give you the low down of where i'm at now.

first and foremost, i got a new job! and now, as of today, an even newer job. see, back in may i started at this coffee shop by my house and while it is work that i really enjoy doing it has come to a head where it has become a gossipy, he-said, she-said moment where i'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. one thing that i dislike is having to fight for people to deem me a trustworthy person because i know me and i really dislike individuals who judge my character incorrectly. this being said, i am beginning a new job in about 3 days as a political canvasser for reproductive rights, which i am really excited about. especially since this is my first presidential election i am able to vote in. it is a Monday-Friday job, and i will be making $6 more an hour than i currently am just starting off, so...needless to say i am very excited.

since january, i am still with the same boyfriend. we just celebrated our 10 months this past week. i want to start to keep our relationship more private because i think that will really benefit us in the long run but in short, he is such a sweet, respectful man i love him with my whole heart and i really see us going the distance. so, so much love to you J.

on the education front! i finished up my second semester in may and i really loved this past year of school. being in community college is of course a lighter course-load than say a university may be but i have found the classes to still be very rewarding for me and i am very proud of myself for how far i have come. i am starting my 3rd semester, (technically a sophomore woohoo!) and i am taking some more "prerequisite" sort of classes to see what is really calling to me. i am an art major at heart, but do i see that taking me somewhere more socially speaking? i'm unsure! i'm still so young, i just turned 21 and the world is my oyster. now is when i should start taking these risks like starting a new job out of 'nowhere' when really i knew my coffee shop job might not be conducive with my new school schedule. i want to take risks and try new things and i need to put myself out there. i'm really nervous and scared but more than anything i am damn excited.

socially, things have been touch and go. i have had a few friends show their true forms to me within these past couple months and it has definitely been an eye-opening experience finding out who is a true friend and who is only around for their own benefit. one thing about me is no matter how many times i get knocked down i will always love the exact same. i will still remain gentle and graceful and will not seek revenge because karma will make you pay in full and i will be minding my business posting anonymously on Tumblr.

so much love, zilla.

[jump-off-a-clifford-universe]

ok i don’t normally do this but i really really need to rant

i literally do not want to wake up because there’s too much to deal with. 

so i live in hong kong (city in south east asia), and obviously most schools do hong kong exams (except some international schools??i don't really know), but my school chose to do the international GCSEs in grade 10 which is an UK exam, and go back to the hong kong exams (equivalent to SATs or A-levels) in grade 12. so naturally there are some differences and the gap between is quite wide and there are a lot of catching up to do cuz we’ve lost the whole year 10 to the GCSEs already and there’s only roughly 1.5 year to prepare for the exam at the end of year 12. 

the GCSEs ended last last week and we’ve had a week of holiday. and now we have to go back to school for “post exam activities” which I thought was gonna be chilled, but noooooo honey. they made us start year 11 now. literally wtf. i’ve just finished the first public exam in my life and now you’re telling me i’ve got to start preparing for my second one in 3 years. and that’s not even the problem. 

so i went back to school and i had chinese lesson, and i thought it was gonna be chilled, like nothing to do and just chat kind of chilled, but as soon as I got in the classroom, the teacher made us do a year 12 chinese public exam paper WHILE IM STILL IN YEAR !!!10!!! and told us we should at least get 75%. literally what the heck again. people who do this paper at the end of year 12 are still failing or getting bad grades and now my school be telling us we should get a 75% when i’m still in year 10. what. the. hell. 

(but if you’re wondering i got 81% so that’s not bad) 

then I went to english class and woohoo the teacher told us we have to submit 2 research papers on either a documentary or movie and either a fiction or nonfiction book. again, i just finished my exams. let me live. 

normally i won’t complain about school but i’ve literally been taking tests and exams all school year. october to november - test season (3 tests per subject, 13 subjects), december to january - exam season, february - test season (3 tests per subject, 13 subjects), march to april - mock exams, may to june - real GCSEs. non stop. i swear this whole school year i spent every single weekend studying or taking extracurriculars. 

and i feel so lied to?? every single teacher in our school is telling us that if we get As, we’re average, and Bs are below international average because the hong kong curriculum isn’t the most academically challenging. really? then why the high suicide rates? 

i’ve never realised it but our school has always been indoctrinating us to believe that our only choice is to get into a good uni after secondary school. just like last month we had a “careers’ choices and future planning” workshop where we were introduced many universities and stuff, our school didn't even bother to tell us about the less prestigious school??? so like they said we could go study abroad in the uk, and some uni examples are oxbridge, uni of manchester, london school of economics and imperial college, and that’s all. literally. they were literally hinting to us that these unis are the only choices and withdrawing information about less prestigious unis from us. same for the US unis where they only told us about the ivy leagues. 

and so last year i’ve decided to do vet med at either Cambridge or Cornell, and ever since i’ve been studying my ass off and joining a bunch of different activities (related or not related - I need the certificates and experiences). i didn’t realise it but i’ve got so much on my plate. to illustrate here’s my usual timetable for the majority of the year 

monday - school 7:45 to 4:00                 athletics 4:00 to 7:00                 dinner 7:30 to 7:45                 shower 7:45 to 8:00                 homework and studying 8:00 to however late it might be 

tuesday - school 7:45 to 4:00                 french 4:00 to 5:30                  homework and studying 6:00 to 7:30                  dinner 7:30 to 7:45                 shower 7:45 to 8:00                                 piano practice 8:00 to 9:30                  homework and studying 9:30 to however late it might be 

and basically everyday is the same but with different extracurriculars. some days i even get at 5 to get some shit done before school. 

i rmb this one time i was painting at night cuz i study art and it was really late. it was so late that i heard birds chirping outside to i knew i had to at least sleep for an hour or two before school. i packed up and went to the washroom to pour away the dirty paint water but accidentally spilled everything on the floor. now normally i would’ve cleaned it up. no big deal. but that day i was so tired that i sat in the puddle on paint water and cried for an hour then got changed and went to school like nothing happened. no one knew because i handed in everything. i had good grades. i didn’t complain. but that doesn't make it ok. it doesn't change the fact that the school is pushing the students too hard. 

another one of my friend was so exhausted that she had to stay in a hospital for 2 weeks. all because of school. another one of my friend wrote and typed so much that she pulled some muscles in her hand and she couldn’t play guitar now. 

and i’ve been holding on so well because i was literally too busy to feel the stress?? but that’s a lie cuz i have so many breakouts. i used to have such good skin but now i have breakouts all over my forehead cuz of stress. 

so long story short i had a breakdown today and now i think i’m sick but i don't wanna skip school.

[type2diabetestreatments-blog]

2011: The Diabetes Year in Review

New Post has been published on http://type2diabetestreatment.net/diabetes-mellitus/2011-the-diabetes-year-in-review/

2011: The Diabetes Year in Review

The New Year is just around the corner, so as per tradition, we're reviewing all the things that have made 2011 a year to remember in the diabetes world and here at the 'Mine.

We've had some big moments in technology as the FDA finally approved some progressive stuff. There were some amazing times with our blogging compatriots IRL (that's Internet-speak for "in real life"). And there were some milestones of us both professionally and personally.

Here's a look at what we think stands out in 2011:

JANUARY

We rang in the New Year with some really big news from our side: DiabetesMine became part of the Alliance Health Networks family. I took on the new role of Vice President of Patient Advocacy as well as Editor-in-Chief of DiabetesMine. Allison officially joined the staff of the 'Mine as Assistant Editor.

Fresh from the adventure of a lifetime, Amazing Race winner Nat Strand chatted with us about what it takes to travel around the world with diabetes!

I also discussed the nitty-gritty of inhaled insulin with Dance Pharmaceuticals CEO, John Patton. He's a veteran of the failed Exubera team, and is on a mission to revive this product category.

We launched our series on diabetes complications with a look at diabetic retinopathy (no pun intended!). We've since followed up with 411's on heart disease, gum disease, neuropathy, gastroparesis, depression and even frozen shoulder. Not to bum you all out, but this stuff is important for us PWDs to know.

FEBRUARY

Allison covered the JDRF Research Summit in Washington, D.C., where updates on the artificial pancreas, the immune system, and prevention of diabetes were discussed. Allison also interviewed Dr. Ed Damiano about the Artificial Pancreas Project.

JDRF CEO Jeffrey Brewer publicly discussed the organization's new direction, setting off a firestorm of controversy. Some folks were very upset that JDRF is no longer focused solely on cure research, but we happen to applaud the work they're doing in developing technologies that can help patients live better now. Allison shared her personal feelings and struggles in hoping for a cure.

We were very excited to share an inspiring guest post from a U.S. Marine who refused to give up his dream of serving his country when he was diagnosed with diabetes.

Dr. Denise Faustman, one of the most controversial yet admired researchers, sat down for a video chat with us about the latest developments in her innovative research to cure diabetes. She also gave us a tour of her laboratory.

MARCH

We kicked off the 2011 DiabetesMine Design Challenge, our annual online competition to encourage creative new tools for improving life with diabetes.

Speaking of innovation, Allison took us on a behind-the-scenes tour of an artificial pancreas clinical trial at Massachusetts General Hospital, led by co-investigator Dr. Ed Damiano.

Allison also traveled to Washington, D.C., with a delegation of bloggers for JDRF's Government Day to talk about social media with the JDRF grassroots advocacy leaders from around the country, meet with Members of Congress on the Hill, and have a briefing with Jeffrey Brewer. Very cool!

At the 'Mine, we launched our new Weekend Edition, now featuring a wonderful roster of cartoonists and a very quirky, useful and fun advice column from D-author and community educator, Wil Dubois. We love you, Wil!

APRIL

Allison and I traveled to Los Angeles to take part in the first-ever Medtronic Diabetes Advocates Forum, where we discussed our thoughts on social media and patient community needs, and also learned about some new Medtronic offerings (like the MyMedtronic Connect iPhone app), and toured the facilities where they produce the Medtronic CGM sensors. That last bit was pretty eye-opening.

We also investigated some interesting rumors we'd heard in LA about progressive products currently only available in Europe: the Medtronic Enlite sensors and the Animas Vibe insulin pump.

In the midst of our Design Challenge, we took a look at one company burgeoning forward to bring innovation to the diabetes market: CellNovo. CEO Bill McKeon discussed their sleek new insulin pump inspired by the iPhone.

MAY

I flew to Las Vegas for a keynote speech to Sanofi Aventis' A1c Champions national meeting, where I was able to give these motivational speakers a pep talk about the Diabetes Online Community! What a great group of grassroots advocates the Champions are.

DiabetesSisters' semi-annual Weekend for Women conference took place in Raleigh, NC, and Allison had the opportunity to attend. She shared the stories of several "sisters" who found inspiration and hope just by spending some time with other women with diabetes.

We participated in Karen Graffeo's Diabetes Blog Week, where we shared what we admire about the DOC's diversity, a heartfelt letter to a former endocrinologist, and 10 things we hate about diabetes.

JDRF announced a partnership with Amylin to study the combination of insulin and symlin, something we're sure folks who dislike multiple daily injections (and who doesn't?) will appreciate if they can get the formulation to work!

JDRF's NYC Chapter hosted an evening with Dr. Sanjoy Dutta, the Director of Glucose Control Therapies at JDRF. He discussed JDRF's Insulin Initiative, a program to investigate how to make insulin work faster and better, which will help blood sugar control in the long run, of course.

D-Mom and super advocate Moira McCarthy Stanford wrote a touching guest post about dealing with her teen daughter's rebellion against diabetes and her advice on how other parents can avoid the same heartache. This post was quite controversial, with 59 comments to date.

JUNE

We were thrilled to announce the winners of the 2011 DiabetesMine Design Challenge. What an honor to be able to share the amazing talent we found through the process!

Nevermind taking the summer off: June marked the beginning of our conference-circuit tour. We were excited to reunite with our friends for the third annual Roche Diabetes Social Media Summit.

That was followed immediately by the annual American Diabetes Association's Scientific Sessions. This HUGE annual conference was a little light on breakthrough products this year, mainly because so much was backed up awaiting FDA approval. Grrr... But there were still a few juicy announcements, including research showing increased life expectancy for PWDs, new advances in the Artificial Pancreas Project, and a CGM trial in kids and teens.

We were honored to feature the story of Bob Krause, the longest-living person with diabetes! Bob has had diabetes for 85 years and is doing great. We were also delighted to meet Bob in person in San Diego at a Joslin reception at the ADA Scientific Sessions:

Plus, we both stepped in front of a Flip camera to take part in Kim Vlasnik's You Can Do This! project. Allison and I each made our own homemade video contribution.

JULY

July was a big month for Allison... she got married!

And while she was on her honeymoon and I took my annual family trip to Germany, we had some absolutely amazing folks stop by to offer guest posts:

Diabetes attorney Kris Halpern shared what you need to know about discrimination in the workplace

Author Amy Stockwell Mercer gave us her insights in what it's like to be a smart woman with diabetes

Blogger Sysy Morales listed 10 things men need to know about women with diabetes

We also published three interviews with some key leaders in the diabetes community:

IDF execs Drs. Jean-Claude Mbanya and Martin Silink shared their thoughts on the international diabetes community and the Life for a Child program

Famous endo Dr. Lois Jovanovic gave women with diabetes some useful tips on how to stay healthy before, during, and after a pregnancy

AUGUST

We hit Las Vegas for the American Association of Diabetes Educator's Annual Conference, where David Edelman, Manny Hernandez, Hope Warshaw and I spoke to a packed room of diabetes educators about the power of the DOC! Talk about your advocacy opportunities — woohoo!

Later at the AADE conference, got the inside scoop on what educators are saying about their patients, and we got a closer look at the new Spring Universal infusion set.

Scandal rocked the DOC with the discovery the insulin pumps could be hacked! Not only that, but the man who discovered this is a pump-wearing PWD himself, who began some some tenuous back-and-forth between himself and the pump manufacturer, later revealed to be Medtronic Diabetes. Although Medtronic claims they are investigating the issue, the hacker wasn't convinced they took the issue seriously. Months later, articles on insulin pump hacking are still cropping up in the news...

SEPTEMBER

We started September with the second annual Diabetes Art Day, the brainchild of art therapist and activist Lee Ann Thill, who helped us work out some of our diabetes frustrations in the form of creative expression.

September was a BIG month for us at the 'Mine, as we hosted our first-ever DiabetesMine Innovation Summit, bringing together in one room pharma product experts, entrepreneurs, designers, VCs, empowered patients and our contest winners. The resulting interactions were nothing short of revolutionary!

Then diabetes innovation came knocking on front door in the form of a test drive of the new iBGStar glucose meter, which plugs directly into an iPhone or iTouch.

But progress still floundered as the FDA continued to grapple with how to make the Medtronic VEO — a product already available in 40 other countries — available in the U.S. with its powerful low-glucose suspend feature. Geez, in the very short-term, too much insulin is far riskier than not enough!

The history-making UN Summit on Noncommunicable Diseases took place, along with a rally in Central Park. But not without quite a bit of headache before and not nearly enough commitment during and after, at least according to the folks who attended. Ann Keeling, CEO of the International Diabetes Federation, gave us her feedback on the outcomes of the Summit.

We also checked out MyGlu.org, from the Helmsley Charitable Trust, a new social network and counterpart to the new type 1 diabetes national registry they are building. Great, great things are in the works there.

OCTOBER

In October, Allison traveled to Kansas City, MO, for one of the biggest (and possibly best?) diabetes meet-ups ever! Simon, a PWD from Australia, traveled half way across the world for a "North American tour" that covered Los Angeles, Kansas City, and New York City. In case you're bummed that you missed out, we hear he's coming back in 2012 for CWD's Friends for Life conference in July!

Brilliant minds in diabetes research convened in San Diego for TEDxDelMar, the first-ever satellite TED conference focusing on the search for a cure.

Mid-October brought us LADA Awareness Week, a campaign dedicated to raising awareness about a form of type 1 diabetes diagnosed in adults. Close to my heart, this is! The proper definition of LADA is a little difficult to pin down, so I queried some top experts to see what they think.

We took a look at some of the many new diabetes iPhone apps, including the new Glooko app, which allows you to upload your blood sugar readings to your phone using a simple USB cable for easy logging.

Getting a handle on blood sugars was a top priority for Allison, who shared her thoughts and concerns on pregnancy and diabetes (it's all about planning, right?).

NOVEMBER

November is a HUGE month for the diabetes community... but it still goes relatively unnoticed by most of the world. In hopes of changing that, we launched our own Unite Behind the Blue Circle Campaign. Our petition for ADA, JDRF, and AADE to more prominently use the Blue Circle to unite the diabetes community garnered over 3,000 signatures!

JDRF also rang in November with the launch of their T1 Day and a shocking newspaper ad in The New York Times and The Washington Post stating that 1 in 20 people with diabetes will die from a low blood sugar. They're not the only national advocacy org using stats to scare up support, and Jeffrey Brewer stands behind the move.

We also participated in the 7th annual DBlog Day, this year breaking out the glue and scissors to create a commemorative scrapbook page.

November 14 was the fifth annual UN-recognized World Diabetes Day and we celebrated here at the 'Mine by taking a look at the previous 5 years of World Diabetes Day. We've come a long way, Baby.

Allison was on hand in NYC with her video camera ready to welcome members of Team Type 1 after they ran across the country. Not kidding!

Big diabetes technology news broke when the FDA approved Tandem's new sleek t:slim insulin pump, with an iPhone-like design. Suddenly, the FDA seemed on a roll — as they also approved the iGlucose, a device that wireless transmits blood sugars to a management system, and Medtronic Minimed's iPro CGM, a new continuous monitor that doctors can lend out to patients.

Nevertheless, we still have issues with progress at the FDA, and I hoped to gain some insight at a JDRF breakfast on FDA reform held in Silicon Valley. Thumbs sideways.

We closed out the month with two exciting giveaways:

We interviewed PWD chef hottie Sam Talbot and gave away a copy of his new cookbook, The Sweet Life.

We honored all our vocal readers with our 20,000 Voices Giveaway, to mark our 20,000th comment here at the 'Mine and all the wonderful folks out there who make our work worthwhile!

DECEMBER

The FDA came through in a big way with the approval of the iBGStar glucose meter, the first and only meter that directly plugs into an iPhone! This bodes well for integration of health / medical devices with consumer technology across the board.

The FDA also released its guidance on the Artificial Pancreas, and JDRF seemed pleased with what they saw initially; we're still waiting to see how it all plays out.

Lifescan also released their OneTouch Verio glucose meter (in Canada), the first-ever meter than can alert you to trends. We got some great user feedback.

I was very happy to be featured in the new anthology, My Sweet Life, a new book of essays from two dozen women living successfully with diabetes. Shout-out to author Dr. Bev!

Allison's husband chimed in with his thoughts on being the life partner of a PWD. He's a keeper, I tell you!

I chatted with Jenny Mackenzie, the successful filmmaker behind SUGAR BABIES, a new educational documentary about four families living with diabetes.

FOR 2012:

Well... we're crossing our fingers (and toes!) that the events in November and December bode well for more great new tools to pass through FDA in the new year. We also have more fun things up our sleeves here at the 'Mine, as we hope to make 2012 bigger and better than ever.

As always, your input is more than welcome.

Happy New Year, Folks!

Yours,

Amy + Allison

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Type 2 Diabetes Diet Diabetes Destroyer Reviews Original Article