 Listen guys, the other day in a temporary moment of boredom and incredible motivation, don't know where that came from, I found myself fixated on repainting this room and thought, today is the day, I'm gonna do it. Ordered everything, went to Home Depot, picked it up like a boss, but by the time I got home, all of that motivation had dissipated and I realized I hate painting. So these supplies have sat upstairs in this room for about a week and a half now, but today is the day. While I'm doing that, I'm gonna answer your most burning questions, like this one, and this one, and that one. I do not know whether this video is going to end with a fully repainted beautiful room or if I am going to give up halfway, we are both gonna have to watch this video to find out. Also, I just, I need to show you the color I chose, I really don't know what I was thinking. Like this is, this is just the test swatch, but guys, that is not a great color for an entire wall. To be fair, I was sick when I made the purchase of the paint online, I'm gonna blame that for my terrible choices. Thankfully, I've also bought a secondary color of purple, light lavender purple, which I think might look nice. So I asked you guys the other day if you had any burning questions for me and there are 1.2 thousand responses, so we are gonna answer every single one of those questions today. Yeah, we're not leaving here until you have your answers. Over $25 of value, guys. Let's get things open, answer the first question. A lot of times in sci-fi media press, the addicts have built in gadgets like tools and such. What is your opinion on this trope? Do you think this seems hurtful anyway to people with artificial limbs? I actually love this. I think the only potential downfall is oftentimes I'll get comments about like prosthetics are actually better than human legs. It's like a human upgrade and I'm like, no, it's really not yet. Maybe like 300 years in the future, but I love seeing like prosthetic weapons or like built-in cool things. Like cyborg, robotic, you know, half metal, half human characters. I actually think it's really cool. Before I open all the supplies, I should probably like get the room ready. Just a thought, Joe. Do I ever feel that I want my audience to see content that shows other parts of my life? For example, hobbies, taste and music, more than just like amputee-specific content? I feel like if you come across my video, my channel, you watch a lot of what I do, you might get the impression that my entire life is about my prosthetic leg. The reality is that it obviously still has an impact on my life, right? But this is pretty normal to me. Like this isn't a topic of conversation in daily life. It's not something I talk with my friends about all the time. Like I just, I live my life by hanging out with people. I do things, pursue hobbies, passions. I'm very much a whole person outside of what I do on the internet with this channel. I just genuinely really enjoy being able to educate people about this kind of stuff and kind of talk about it. But yes, I do want to expand to more. And occasionally I do. The problem is those videos don't do quite as well. So while I have the opportunity, I want to be able to use my influence for, you know, good things and kind of the amputee and the disabled community. But yes, I very much do want to expand what I talk about and plan on it. I don't know about this color, guys. Dang it. Let's do a test spot on the wall. Maybe. Okay, I think I need to like actually prepare for painting. So I'm going to speed up this process and answer some questions. Do I ever go out in public wearing shorts or skirts? I actually primarily wear shorts because it is so much easier to take care of and access my leg. It's really cold here in Colorado, but I kind of mostly deal unless it's like super cold. I have always found it is exponentially easier for me to just let this be what it is than to try to hide it for the most part. Have I struggled with that? Absolutely. For me, it's always been really important to be like, this is who I am and I'm going to figure out a way to make peace with that and deal with that. What perks surprised you in the last two years of being an amputee as well as the downside that surprised you? One of the biggest perks for me personally is kind of always having a conversation piece. Also, a lot of people just like automatically think I must be an interesting person because I have a bionic leg, which, hey, I'll take it. One of the biggest surprise downsides is just kind of the constant adjustment. Not something you really think about right at the beginning of going through such a big life change as life goes on and you kind of realize more and more like, oh, there's so much to think about when I'm traveling with a prosthetic. There's so much to think about if I'm looking to buy a new house with a prosthetic. I have to think about this or that. So it's just kind of just a constant adjustment. Is this a photo of Nicholas Cage? Isn't it a fantastic outfit? Yes it is. Why is it here you may ask? I'll never tell. Do people judge me for my disability and or for choosing to have my foot removed to reduce pain? Actually, yes. I've never had anyone in real life really say this to my face, but I get comments pretty often that are like, oh my God, you made the wrong decision or I would never do that or who in their right mind would ever, you know, remove a limb, living in pain is so much better. And the thing is if you're ever in that kind of a situation is completely your personal choice, it's the worst choice you may ever have to make. It was an incredibly difficult choice to make and I feel like anyone who's making that comment perhaps has never really lived in chronic pain for years on end. So I think it just comes out of ignorance, but I will be honest, those comments do kind of, you know, cut me like a tiny bit sometimes even still. You guys, it's a new day. The vision is clear. The wall is getting done. Oh, okay. When I got my first prosthetic leg, did I fall a lot? Actually, no. I'm really lucky that, you know, it took me a little while to learn how to walk. It took me even longer to learn how to walk well. I would even say I'm still in that process. But I think I've fallen maybe twice, maybe twice on my prosthetic leg. I mean, it was because of ice or some other kind of circumstance. I feel like my balance and my body adjusted fairly quickly, but that was still a weeks and weeks long process. Is there anything I really cannot do? Yes. I do feel like there's this narrative kind of in the disability community or even in society that like, don't let your disability stop you from doing anything. You can do anything you put your mind to. It's like, well, no, I actually can't. There are some things that I am prohibited from doing. For instance, there are a lot of theme parks that I cannot get on the rides on because I do not have two human flesh meat legs. I used to do Muay Thai and MMA, which is mixed martial arts fighting. Cannot do that anymore because obviously you can't kick people with carbon fiber. It can cause damage. There's a long list of little things like that, but the reality of living without a leg is that you're just kind of constantly adapting. So most activities and things that I want to do, I can do. I'm just going to find a way to do them maybe a little bit differently than if I did have two human legs. Are you ready for the big reveal? I actually kind of like this. Ta-da! I'll be honest. I didn't believe in the vision until it actually came together, but I really like this color. It ended up drawing a lot better than I thought it would, and then breaking it up with kind of the white pattern. I don't think this room feels incredibly refreshed and a lot better. Now that we are here, the last questions. Let's dive in. Why are breastleg legs always shaped like a stick? Are there any realistic ones that are shaped like human legs? Okay, this is a very, very good question because this, like if I'm wearing pants and like boots, I can fake people into thinking it's built like a human leg, but you can clearly see this is not really leg shaped, right? It's also black metal and carbon fiber and silver pieces. I'm not fooling anyone, right? There are actually prosthetic legs that look very realistic that you would like have to really look at to see the difference, like the difference in skin tone. Sometimes you can tell. And usually from my understanding, these are covers that are actually put over the prosthetic itself. Kind of like a continuation of this rubber that's on my foot and it just kind of comes up and over. I have never been interested in this personally because I'm not super self-conscious about like this leg. It's different, right? It's going to look different and I'm fine with that. For me personally, because I don't have that desire for that cosmetic portion of it, it would just be an extra piece to like worry about cleaning something else that could break. It would add additional bulk, a little bit of extra weight, just something I'm not interested in, but it is very beneficial and what a lot of other people do prefer. Ah, yes, good question. What happens if the prosthetic gets wet? So if we're talking about like going out in the rain, wet, no problem, easy cleaning. Sometimes water gets in here. I can just pop my foot shell off, clean it off. However, last year I got the brilliant idea that it would be a good idea to go in the ocean with my leg on. Now that I say that out loud, I don't smoke, but I don't know what I was smoking to think that this was brilliant. Basically what happened is it got filled up with seawater which I don't know if you know this, has a lot of sand in it because I was like standing on the shore and getting that thing clean was an absolute nightmare because all those little grains of sand get in everywhere. Thankfully though, I was able to fix it and made a vow to never go in the ocean with my prosthetic leg on ever again. They do make water and swimming legs which I'm very interested in, but currently do not have the funds to invest in. Would Brian and I ever consider adopting someone who has a disability? This is actually a conversation we've had. We're very much in the middle of sort of the kid conversation. We both never really had a desire for biological children. Especially me, I have zero interest, zero desire to go through that, but I've always felt very drawn to fostering potentially adoption of like an older kid down the road now that I kind of have the personal experience of living life with a certain kind of disability. I'm very interested and Brian is open to looking at fostering kids specifically who are dealing with disabilities and perhaps being a place of safety and support for them. Oh, look at this ego boost. You seem to be in amazing shape. I'd love to know what types of foods you eat on a regular basis. Do I stick to a certain diet? I don't. Growing up I dealt with an eating disorder for years and it's something I would like to never return to. Food and calories and diet completely controlled my life from age 14. Honestly to like 20 if we're being totally honest and frankly it was hell and so I have been trying to repair my relationship with my body and look at it as like a vessel that allows me to live and do life. Me sticking to any kind of diet or anything like that triggers a lot of the same feelings of like restricted eating and hating my body again. So I take a very lazy fare. I think that's a word approach to how I eat. I try to take care of my body, give it good things, but I also eat what I want. Bethany asked, do I sleep with my prosthetic or do I take it off? Always I take it off. There have been a couple of times where I've fallen asleep with my leg on because it was like the end of a long day and I was on the couch where I was taking a nap and it is super uncomfortable. Also you get really hot because my entire leg is encased in like neoprene and rubber and all kinds of things that don't allow for airflow. It's kind of important that your skin isn't constantly encased in a moist environment and so I take my leg off every day before I go to bed. Rinse off the parts and pieces that need to be rinsed off. They dry overnight and I pop it back on in the morning. Does the prosthetic hinder or aid in self-defense? Yes. Thank you so much for going on this painting adventure with me and asking so many amazing questions. By the time I finish this video because it's two days later I think there are like 1.6,000 questions now so we'll work on getting through them eventually, but to everyone who left a message or a comment, thank you so much. And I would love to think what you think of this beautiful, beautiful new wall. If you hate it, tell me, be honest, I can take it. If you love it, then definitely tell me I can use the confidence boost. With that being said, a huge thank you to my patrons over on Patreon for your continued generous support. You guys are the reason why I can do what I do. And to you watching this video right now, thank you so much for spending a few minutes out of your day and watch me struggle through a painting project. So thank you. I love you guys. I'm thinking about you and we will see you in the next video. Bye, guys.