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Not Lazy, Just Noncommunicative
2 min read
I have not been idle.
I have been silent, however. Various issues at work and home (some bad and some good) took up a good deal of my time and energy as 2018 ground to an end, and it looks like posting anything here was one of the things that suffered as a result. Fortunately there is a difference between being quiet and not accomplishing anything, and I did get some time for hobby work of various types. I even managed to do some drawing during the family skiing trip over Christmas, as I often enjoy nothing more than being in the company of those I love...and hunching over a piece of paper and ignoring them. I'm an emotional cactus, in a way.
Most of the drawing work has been concepts and designs, rather than finished products. I may post some of it to my Scraps, if I can still stand it, but the real goal was to take it and refine it - something that I haven't gotten back around to yet due to my painting. After drifting away from it for a time, I decided to circle back to my Warhammer: 40,000 collections, and made some progress towards a couple of gifts that I ended up with and got tired of them collecting dust. My current effort, which I'm working at along with a couple of friends, is a little challenge involving one of my favorite parts of the lore - the Badab War. We each picked a Chapter from the conflict, and are currently painting a 'test model' to see if we'd like to build from that into something more. With my friends choosing to be lapdogs to the Loyalists (in the Carcharadon and Red Scorpion flavors, I believe) I set aside my dreams of Novamarines and chose to champion the Astral Claws. We play by our own rules - how can we not be the heroes?
Here's hoping that 2019 continues to be inspiring - and that I can motivate myself to post a bit more.
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Post-Post-Gen Con
3 min read
Technically it still counts as a post-Gen Con journal even if Gen Con is like a month over. I had been hoping to be a bit more prompt in writing something up, but I came back to a bunch of work deadlines after the con, and that (and the related travel) has eaten up more time than I would have liked, and left me with little motivation in the meantime. Fortunately that seems to be coming to an end for the moment, and I was able to build up a little energy over the weekend.
Gen Con 2018 was a lot of fun, as has proven to be the norm. There were a surprising number of traffic issues on the way out, however, leading me to see more of rural Maryland and Indiana than I ever wished to see. Upon arrival, though, we quickly settled in and got the various board games and video game systems that we had brought out unpacked and settled in to relax. Well, relax until there was a plane delay for some friends, and we had to adjust our relaxation to help them out. Fortunately all ended well, and we started off the convention with everyone where they were supposed to be.
It's odd to say it, but this year I realized that my visits to Gen Con have become post-consumer, for the most part. The few things that I pick up are just a few books with new releases, and some loose Warhammer miniatures. We have built up enough games over the years that we don't hunt for too many new ones anymore, and we're old and wise (or lazy) enough to know that there's no reason to stand in line for three hours for something we can order online a couple weeks later. Instead we dusted off some old Magic: The Gathering cards and played some games, then enjoyed some Wrath of Ashardalon (where I proved it was possible to stay poisoned the entire game, if the cleric is willing to humor you). I ran a Star Wars game using the Saga Edition rules (it involved Force dragons, as was requested) and we watched as many Marvel movies as could be squeezed into our schedule. On the last day of the Con I did do a little more purchasing, though, and picked up some of the old Legend of the Five Rings learn-to-play decks - having ready-made decks for simple games appeals to me more now, and I'm sure the original ones I bought were disassembled to forge the tournament deck version of a Muramasa (or so I tell myself).
Oh, and we tried some new food places - I really liked the Bento Box delivery service, and the new BBQ spot was pretty good too.
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Exhaustion
2 min read
I am beat.
The last month or so has been an exhausting experience, mainly due to issues at work. There has been a number of different calls for my attention for a while now (that's why they call it work, after all) but recently it's gotten to the point that it's grinding me down. New systems, inaccurate guidance, decisions being made without being shared - it's the kind of things that all add up to turning a work environment that demands a certain logic into a thing of chaos. For some time I've been waiting for the situation to improve, since it usually does when times like this break out, but this time the disruptions seem to be here for the duration, and my defenses are low. It's even starting to affect my sleep, which is fairly rare for me, and certainly not improving the situation.
Obviously, none of this is good for drawing, but I have forced myself to make some time to keep it up. It can be hard to find time (to say nothing of finding the energy), but I think that hobbies are vital to situations like this, and it's rare that I don't step aside from my sketches feeling better than when I sat down. Most of what I have been working on has not been worth posting (doodles of NPCs, layouts for larger pieces, etc.), which is not surprising. Even if it was, it is rare that I'm up and about and energetic enough to post, like I am today. But the point is to keep drawing, painting, gaming, and all the rest - otherwise, what am I working for? (Well, there's the food, the house, and all that...)
This too shall pass. Let it do so swiftly...
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Steady State
3 min read
It's well past time for a new entry...as per the norm.
At this point I think I need to simply accept that I'm unlikely to be making updates in an orderly manner anytime soon. If you look back at my previous journals, there has long been a vein of "as soon as I dig myself out from under X, Y, and Z everything will be fine" - that has proven not to be realistic, so I'm going to try and accept the chaos of life instead. I'm not giving up on drawing or anything - in fact I've been on a bit of a kick on it since Christmas, when I took some old stuff home and cleaned some of it up while watching bad movies with the folks - but with work, miniatures, writing, exercising, and friends to consider, I think it's far more reasonable for me to try and roll with the punches.
My last few months have been fairly erratic, since I spent a lot of them traveling for work issues. I'm not a big fan of traveling, because I have trouble getting settled in hotel rooms and the like, even though I like actually going to places and helping people work through their issues. Those trips have leveled off for the moment, though, and now that I'm back in town I've been enjoying myself for the most part, and doing some things I haven't done in a while, such as working with a friend to colonize a new world in Minecraft, and beating my head against the painful joy that is Rogue Legacy. I even pulled out some ANCIENT Magic: The Gathering cards and got in several games - I was impressed that I remembered the rules! We also managed to get people together for gaming too, which was nice, in part because I also convinced them to play Ticket to Ride, which I just got for Christmas. I was looking for a game that was simple and elegant, and I have been very happy with the results. I also played it with the family over Christmas, and they (non-gamers all) liked it enough that they asked for a second game. Another friend brought over the Oregon Trail card game, which I also enjoyed - it is brutal, but it makes victory feel like a real achievement. I may have to pick a copy up.
So that's what I'm up to. I hope that things are going well for everyone else.
At this point I think I need to simply accept that I'm unlikely to be making updates in an orderly manner anytime soon. If you look back at my previous journals, there has long been a vein of "as soon as I dig myself out from under X, Y, and Z everything will be fine" - that has proven not to be realistic, so I'm going to try and accept the chaos of life instead. I'm not giving up on drawing or anything - in fact I've been on a bit of a kick on it since Christmas, when I took some old stuff home and cleaned some of it up while watching bad movies with the folks - but with work, miniatures, writing, exercising, and friends to consider, I think it's far more reasonable for me to try and roll with the punches.
My last few months have been fairly erratic, since I spent a lot of them traveling for work issues. I'm not a big fan of traveling, because I have trouble getting settled in hotel rooms and the like, even though I like actually going to places and helping people work through their issues. Those trips have leveled off for the moment, though, and now that I'm back in town I've been enjoying myself for the most part, and doing some things I haven't done in a while, such as working with a friend to colonize a new world in Minecraft, and beating my head against the painful joy that is Rogue Legacy. I even pulled out some ANCIENT Magic: The Gathering cards and got in several games - I was impressed that I remembered the rules! We also managed to get people together for gaming too, which was nice, in part because I also convinced them to play Ticket to Ride, which I just got for Christmas. I was looking for a game that was simple and elegant, and I have been very happy with the results. I also played it with the family over Christmas, and they (non-gamers all) liked it enough that they asked for a second game. Another friend brought over the Oregon Trail card game, which I also enjoyed - it is brutal, but it makes victory feel like a real achievement. I may have to pick a copy up.
So that's what I'm up to. I hope that things are going well for everyone else.
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Possibly a Placeholder...
3 min read
And, once again, I display an amazing ability to not post anything for far too long.
There have been all kinds of calls for my time in the last several months, and my progress on my hobbies has suffered as a result. Fortunately I recently went on vacation at Gen Con, and that has helped to refresh me a little, even though I know that my old problems are eagerly waiting for my return (tomorrow). The convention was fun, although I did spend a bit more time waiting in lines for exclusives than I would have liked, especially since they were for someone else (I am far too old to bother with such things for myself these days). Other than that, though, it was a good time, although we were missing one member from our usual merry band (it's been a tough year all around) so it wasn't quite perfect. Such is life.
I did get a chance to try out several different board games, some of which I liked enough to get a copy for myself - I have a friend who is a great gatherer of such things, and that makes it easy to try out many different games. The first one that we played was Forbidden Stars, which I enjoyed, although I do agree with some of the reviews I have read that say that it can be a very long game, especially if you have more than two people. The Lord of the Rings board game (most recently put out by Fantasy Flight) was more impressive, and we played it through three times out of a desperate need to defy the will of Sauron (once we learned that we were reading several rules wrong, and always to our disadvantage). The final one was the sadly discontinued Warhammer Quest adventure card game, which I really liked (I love games with options for running campaigns). The latter two are now in my possession, and I'll be looking for a chance to set up a game sometime soon.
On the home front I came back to some complications, even before vacation ended, but they are not very exciting, so I won't bother with saying more. I have found some time to try out some new recipes in the kitchen, and assemble some miniatures, a few of which I may post depending on how they turn out. For now, though, I'm going to simply relax, and marshal my strength for the return to the daily grind.
There have been all kinds of calls for my time in the last several months, and my progress on my hobbies has suffered as a result. Fortunately I recently went on vacation at Gen Con, and that has helped to refresh me a little, even though I know that my old problems are eagerly waiting for my return (tomorrow). The convention was fun, although I did spend a bit more time waiting in lines for exclusives than I would have liked, especially since they were for someone else (I am far too old to bother with such things for myself these days). Other than that, though, it was a good time, although we were missing one member from our usual merry band (it's been a tough year all around) so it wasn't quite perfect. Such is life.
I did get a chance to try out several different board games, some of which I liked enough to get a copy for myself - I have a friend who is a great gatherer of such things, and that makes it easy to try out many different games. The first one that we played was Forbidden Stars, which I enjoyed, although I do agree with some of the reviews I have read that say that it can be a very long game, especially if you have more than two people. The Lord of the Rings board game (most recently put out by Fantasy Flight) was more impressive, and we played it through three times out of a desperate need to defy the will of Sauron (once we learned that we were reading several rules wrong, and always to our disadvantage). The final one was the sadly discontinued Warhammer Quest adventure card game, which I really liked (I love games with options for running campaigns). The latter two are now in my possession, and I'll be looking for a chance to set up a game sometime soon.
On the home front I came back to some complications, even before vacation ended, but they are not very exciting, so I won't bother with saying more. I have found some time to try out some new recipes in the kitchen, and assemble some miniatures, a few of which I may post depending on how they turn out. For now, though, I'm going to simply relax, and marshal my strength for the return to the daily grind.
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