Hey everyone! I know it’s been a super long time since I’ve done an update on my blog. The good news is that the reason I haven’t posted is because I’ve been busy living life! More or less.
Cancer is still “sleeping”, or at least it’s stable. I’ve been getting regular scans, labs, checkups, and as long as I keep taking my poison pills twice a day, things should stay that way. I’m hoping the drugs will remain effective for a long time, although they are only predicted to last a few years. Then we’ll move on to the next drug, and the next, until they find a cure, I get abducted by aliens, or get hit by a bus. Woohoo! I’m hoping for the second one.
My day-to-day is still a bit rough. I’m on a ton of pain meds. MORPHINE! yay? And a cocktail of other stuff to help with the side-effects. Because of the pain, I’m limited on my physical abilities. Sometimes it’s still difficult to walk, sometimes I can’t stand, or sit, or anything without feeling pain. And then because of the side-effects, I have major brain fog, headaches, trouble concentrating, fatigue. bla bla bla. You know the drill by now.
At this point though, I’d REALLY like to get back to “work”. I’ve been enjoying spending time with my family and helping out with the kids. I’ve also been trying a million different ways to make a little extra money. But honestly, it’s really hard to find a job that fits my abilities… or disabilities. I’m good at faking like I’m a real person, but after about an hour or two — I turn into a shriveled little pumpkin with herpes. OK OK – I don’t have herpes! I guess that’s something to be thankful for. And if you have herpes, I still love you and you didn’t get it from me. 🙂
Soooooo! With all that said, I’ve decided to embark on a new adventure that may or may not, eventually, maybe, be a source of income. Or at least I’ll have some fun along the way. I really miss performing and connecting with my audience. I wish so much I could get back out on the road and do that again. But it ain’t happening folks. Not like it was before. So I’m embracing the new me and adapting. There is a website called YouTube where people post obnoxious videos. And I’ve decided to post my own obnoxious videos!
THE TERMINAL ANIMAL SHOW!
So what is the Terminal Animal Show? Well… It’s an unfiltered, joyful combination of cancer and vaudeville. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience that draws inspiration from my life as a professional touring comedian/variety artist, my battle with cancer, and the adventure of my own existential crisis. But this show is also about YOU! Especially YOU! You are highly encouraged to share in the mayhem by commenting with your own interesting stories, jokes, questions, and nonsense, which I will then talk about, comment, snark, and have fun with. This show will have no edits, no filters, no AI. Just looming mortality and a camera!
Sound fun!? You’re darn tootin’ it’s fun! -ish. I just posted my first video TODAY! Episode One will kind of give you a better idea of what my plan is. I’m still figuring things out, so it’s a bit rough and rambly, but well worth your time to check it out. It’s mostly just a fun update and me sharing my future plan for the Show. I’m very excited about this project and I predict it’s going to evolve a lot as the episodes continue. I just knew that posting the first episode would be the hardest part. So I got it done and pushed it out into the world like a baby bag of flour in a diaper. Do they still do that in school?
And if Star Wars is indicative of anything, Episode One won’t be very good, but eventually we’ll get to Episode 4, and that’s when things get good.
Anyway! YOU MUST NOW GO WATCH THE VIDEO! Episode One is waiting for you. Please Like, Subscribe, Comment, Email Me, Share with Friends, do all the things you can do to help me get this off the ground. You have all been so generous thus far (did I just use “thus” correctly!?). And supporting this new idea would be another amazing thing to help me along. I’m hoping it will be a silly, fun time for all of us. I’m looking forward to connecting with you even more! And reconnecting with so many of you that I’ve been missing.
Let’s have some fun! Go now! Watch!
Matthew Tardy 
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