(no subject)
Well, let me start this entry by wishing Sarah a Happy Birthday. No idea where you are or how you're doing (or when you might see this), but I'm thinking of you and hoping you're having fun in that trademark style of yours.
It's been a long while since I've done any sort of a meaningful update hasn't it? Just haven't found time really, that an not much seems to be happening worth repeating at the moment. It's funny, at the minute I have no job and aren't going to Uni, yet I never seem to fit everything I want into a day. But I don't have much to do. I'm getting things done. No doubt about that, yet not quite as much as I feel I should be...
The room I've been working on at Dad's is just about finished, I've done everything except paint the back of the door which Dad has said he wants to do. I'm not quite sure why I've taken such a sudden interest in helping get things done at Dad's place. It's a long project, been going for years and yet not much seems to ever get done 'cause he's always out helping other people with their projects. I'd really like to see Dad's place finished for his sake so he can take it easy. But the jobs are piling up quicker than they're getting done, and since most of them are quite major renovations there's so little I can do. I figure if I get in enthusiastically then it'll help Dad's motivation.
I really wish Shorty would help more, but he always seems to have things to do with his friends. We don't see much of Shorty even at Mum's place any more. If he was like me I'd say it was because he's avoiding the place, but I don't think he works like that. He's all about the people. But still, it bugs me no end how slack he's getting at being home by 10:30. I don't like it any more than he does I'm sure. I know exactly how embarassing it is to have to explain to friends that I'm s'pposed to be home that early at my age, but the thing is it's about Mum having undisturbed sleep, and while I hate how restrictive it is on socialising I recognise that it's Mum's house and her rules and she has the right to demand that if she wants to. I don't like it, but I respect it.
My latest toy/discovery was http://www.abandonia.com earlier this week. Basically a site that deals with old computer games (80's and early 90's). Kind of like a museum but you get to take the exhibits home. I was actually looking for the game Lemmings because it was a classic that I'd never really had the chance to play, and I decided I wanted to give it a go. It was okay, although I've kind of lost interest already. I found a few other treasures though: Star Control 1 & 2 (original editions), Risk, Defender of the Crown, Blood Bowl and HeroQuest. Those ones were available. Further spotted were Bubble Bobble, Warcraft 1 and Day of the Tentacle. DotT was still actually for sale brand new! And I can remember playing that at Ben's place more than ten years ago! The other games were still copyrighted so no downloading allowed alas.
But yeah, reading what the person who reviewed "Heroquest" wrote, he said that it was a board game that changed his life. And I can relate to that because when I think about it, Heroquest certainly changed my life. Those little figures of orcs and goblins and skeletons, that prepared us for Warhammer. I remember staring at the back of the Heroquest rulebook at a map they had printed on the cover. And just being amazed that here was this map with all these places on it that didn't really exist, yet it was as detailed as a real-life map. That town of Skavenblight there, why was it marked different to other cities. Why were so many Dwarf fortresses marked when Dwarfs played a very small role in Heroquest? Why were some of them broken? What were all the stories that went with all these places?
And on the Heroquest box was the Games Workshop logo. And one day, many years later while walking through the city we glanced up a mall and saw the exact same logo hanging over a shop. So what the hey, we weren't doing anything, we might as well go have a look...
I can still remember what it was like the first time I walked into that store.
This week's diorama update:
Doorway
You could see it roughly positioned and painted black in the background of the other pictures, but this week I finished altering, painting it and affixing it to the base. Originally it was double-sided so I had to grind down the rear to make it flat. Also it used to have a base (cut away) and be taller (shortened by removing middle stones). Last night I had the idea of replacing the plastic moulded ring (near the bottom of the left column) with a real one. So I cut away the plastic ring and bent a paper-clip into a circle and attached it where the old one was. Looks ~much~ better. The arch is painted exactly the same sequence of paints as the floor but without any of the coloured tints. I'm still debating whether or not to add an iron-bar portcullis across the door, trapping the heroes in the room. I'll see if I can make a poll about it at the end of the entry just because I can.
Currently I find myself facing quite a problem with three of the main character figures. The Goraf, Melkor and Telfon. Telfon is the easiest in that I know exactly what model I want to use (same figure as in the icon of this entry but I'll paint it different) but I don't actually have the model. I couldn't bring myself to permanently affix the current stand-in because it was the original one Russel used in the actual game. Altering it in any way would be sacriligious. I'll have to order the model from England. Goraf is even worse in that I'd have to order the model from England plus do some extra work to it. In the game Goraf wore armour made of orc-bones and it's going to take me a while to either sift through the catalogues to find suitable bones (a skull is possible but unknown likelyhood) or sculpt it myself (ribcage should be easy at least). Melkor is the worst in that I don't even know what figure I want to use, I quite dislike the static pose of the original model and want something much more dynamic, swinging an axe perhaps.
I'm still in two minds about getting back into this hobby seriously. Cost and time aren't really the issues, it more like "what's the point?" I mean I love painting and sculpting and building these things. But to what end? I'm going to end up with shelf after shelf of ... models. And what good is that when you get right down to it? They don't help anyone, they don't do anything, what can I tell myself to justify the expenditure of resource?
I think that holds me back. I think that has held me back from most of my hobbies for many years now. I got taught that people were all that mattered and now I don't see the point in, things. I obviously enjoy this hobby, but I'd feel guilty and like I was wasting time if I actually indulged in it.
Poll The Portcullis Question...
It's been a long while since I've done any sort of a meaningful update hasn't it? Just haven't found time really, that an not much seems to be happening worth repeating at the moment. It's funny, at the minute I have no job and aren't going to Uni, yet I never seem to fit everything I want into a day. But I don't have much to do. I'm getting things done. No doubt about that, yet not quite as much as I feel I should be...
The room I've been working on at Dad's is just about finished, I've done everything except paint the back of the door which Dad has said he wants to do. I'm not quite sure why I've taken such a sudden interest in helping get things done at Dad's place. It's a long project, been going for years and yet not much seems to ever get done 'cause he's always out helping other people with their projects. I'd really like to see Dad's place finished for his sake so he can take it easy. But the jobs are piling up quicker than they're getting done, and since most of them are quite major renovations there's so little I can do. I figure if I get in enthusiastically then it'll help Dad's motivation.
I really wish Shorty would help more, but he always seems to have things to do with his friends. We don't see much of Shorty even at Mum's place any more. If he was like me I'd say it was because he's avoiding the place, but I don't think he works like that. He's all about the people. But still, it bugs me no end how slack he's getting at being home by 10:30. I don't like it any more than he does I'm sure. I know exactly how embarassing it is to have to explain to friends that I'm s'pposed to be home that early at my age, but the thing is it's about Mum having undisturbed sleep, and while I hate how restrictive it is on socialising I recognise that it's Mum's house and her rules and she has the right to demand that if she wants to. I don't like it, but I respect it.
My latest toy/discovery was http://www.abandonia.com earlier this week. Basically a site that deals with old computer games (80's and early 90's). Kind of like a museum but you get to take the exhibits home. I was actually looking for the game Lemmings because it was a classic that I'd never really had the chance to play, and I decided I wanted to give it a go. It was okay, although I've kind of lost interest already. I found a few other treasures though: Star Control 1 & 2 (original editions), Risk, Defender of the Crown, Blood Bowl and HeroQuest. Those ones were available. Further spotted were Bubble Bobble, Warcraft 1 and Day of the Tentacle. DotT was still actually for sale brand new! And I can remember playing that at Ben's place more than ten years ago! The other games were still copyrighted so no downloading allowed alas.
But yeah, reading what the person who reviewed "Heroquest" wrote, he said that it was a board game that changed his life. And I can relate to that because when I think about it, Heroquest certainly changed my life. Those little figures of orcs and goblins and skeletons, that prepared us for Warhammer. I remember staring at the back of the Heroquest rulebook at a map they had printed on the cover. And just being amazed that here was this map with all these places on it that didn't really exist, yet it was as detailed as a real-life map. That town of Skavenblight there, why was it marked different to other cities. Why were so many Dwarf fortresses marked when Dwarfs played a very small role in Heroquest? Why were some of them broken? What were all the stories that went with all these places?
And on the Heroquest box was the Games Workshop logo. And one day, many years later while walking through the city we glanced up a mall and saw the exact same logo hanging over a shop. So what the hey, we weren't doing anything, we might as well go have a look...
I can still remember what it was like the first time I walked into that store.
This week's diorama update:
Doorway
You could see it roughly positioned and painted black in the background of the other pictures, but this week I finished altering, painting it and affixing it to the base. Originally it was double-sided so I had to grind down the rear to make it flat. Also it used to have a base (cut away) and be taller (shortened by removing middle stones). Last night I had the idea of replacing the plastic moulded ring (near the bottom of the left column) with a real one. So I cut away the plastic ring and bent a paper-clip into a circle and attached it where the old one was. Looks ~much~ better. The arch is painted exactly the same sequence of paints as the floor but without any of the coloured tints. I'm still debating whether or not to add an iron-bar portcullis across the door, trapping the heroes in the room. I'll see if I can make a poll about it at the end of the entry just because I can.
Currently I find myself facing quite a problem with three of the main character figures. The Goraf, Melkor and Telfon. Telfon is the easiest in that I know exactly what model I want to use (same figure as in the icon of this entry but I'll paint it different) but I don't actually have the model. I couldn't bring myself to permanently affix the current stand-in because it was the original one Russel used in the actual game. Altering it in any way would be sacriligious. I'll have to order the model from England. Goraf is even worse in that I'd have to order the model from England plus do some extra work to it. In the game Goraf wore armour made of orc-bones and it's going to take me a while to either sift through the catalogues to find suitable bones (a skull is possible but unknown likelyhood) or sculpt it myself (ribcage should be easy at least). Melkor is the worst in that I don't even know what figure I want to use, I quite dislike the static pose of the original model and want something much more dynamic, swinging an axe perhaps.
I'm still in two minds about getting back into this hobby seriously. Cost and time aren't really the issues, it more like "what's the point?" I mean I love painting and sculpting and building these things. But to what end? I'm going to end up with shelf after shelf of ... models. And what good is that when you get right down to it? They don't help anyone, they don't do anything, what can I tell myself to justify the expenditure of resource?
I think that holds me back. I think that has held me back from most of my hobbies for many years now. I got taught that people were all that mattered and now I don't see the point in, things. I obviously enjoy this hobby, but I'd feel guilty and like I was wasting time if I actually indulged in it.
Poll The Portcullis Question...