In other news
I feel like I've been doing a lot of writing about S lately, but there's more to life than that. So here's some random thoughts.
The 3D printer is still super awesome. The Indiegogo that I had backed for scenery should be coming due any day now, which means that I'll be getting files to print out an assortment of buildings. I'll soon be able to start printing out scenery for Warmachine, which brings that game forward into the 'to play' options. I should be able to print about a half dozen buildings over the next couple weeks - plenty for a quick skirmish game. I still need to figure out magnetizing everything, but that should be quick.
And aside from scenery, I've been very happy with the 'other stuff' I've printed. I made the gears for my brother, and a friend had asked if I could make a case for his raspberry pi and display. He had mismatched versions, so the off-the shelf cases wouldn't work. But he found the files for a case online, and I could print them out for about $3 worth of materials. And it worked just like it was supposed to - get the files printing, and hours later he had a ready-to-use case. So even though I don't have many non-scenery uses in mind, it's really awesome to see how well they come together.
Sadly, gaming has been a major void for me lately. If I was printing scenery, I wouldn't be doing anything gaming related. A big part of it is the holidays and winter - it seems that people just don't get together as much this time of year. It's also not helped by friend and family dynamics - some friends have had personal issues, and those of us with kids have that consideration to try and work around. This past FND, a bunch of us were talking about getting back to the gaming roots of FND. Granted, we always seem to talk about it but never do it, but that goes back to the previous factors. It's just not easy to get a bunch of people together to dedicate some time to games. D40Con was awesome in that it felt like a weekend of what FND used to be, but I think part of what made it successful was that we had a weekend to do it - when you only have an evening it just doesn't seem to work.
Range time has also been another big void. I haven't been shooting since the week of Thanksgiving - far from the once a month that I was hoping to do. Again, I know part of this was the whole holidays thing, but now that it's March, I can't use that excuse. The San Diego trip was another 'this will mess up scheduling so wait until afterwards', but again - that's done. So I really need to get my mind to it and get back out.
Although I'm kinda coming to terms with the fact that my gun hobby just isn't going to be what I'd like for the foreseeable future. I think that if I can get Pidge into it, that may help, but that's a 10 year plan. So in that vein, I've passed on Blindfury's lovely bolt action, and shelved the idea of finishing the AR anytime soon. If I do anything gun hobby related, it needs to be getting back to the range.
So, work has been absolute crap lately. I don't know if it's something with the industry as a whole, but it seems that lately, every project has had more work and less time to do it. This has brought double the suck - first you have the stress of trying to do more with less time, but then you get hit with the second batch of suck, when that quick time frame leads to increased mistakes which then leads to more work. It becomes a snowball - mistakes make more work, which makes for more rushing, which makes for more mistakes. This has been made even worse though, with a couple mistakes of mine that look like they'll cost us. Understandable mistakes, so I'm not getting blamed per se, but avoidable mistakes that no one likes to see. And they certainly add to the stress lately, the sort of stress that leaves you heading home at night with a giant "fuck you" attitude.
We're rapidly coming up on another Gotcha Day, soon followed by Pidge's fifth birthday. Almost hard to believe that he'll have been home for three years - it seems like it just wasn't that long ago that he was coming home and turning two. Then again, I also look at pictures from back then, and he's not even the same kid. Obviously, children change a lot as they grow, but knowing that still doesn't fully prepare you for the reality of it. I've just loved watching him, as he continues to grow as such a fun-loving, good-hearted little dude. It certainly doesn't hurt that he has my sense of humor and love of Star Wars, but even that aside, I see a little guy that is polite, generally well mannered, and generally happy. And really, it's that last part that makes me smile the most - seeing him happy.
So yeah, stuff. Nothing really groundbreaking or earth shattering, but stuff nonetheless.
The 3D printer is still super awesome. The Indiegogo that I had backed for scenery should be coming due any day now, which means that I'll be getting files to print out an assortment of buildings. I'll soon be able to start printing out scenery for Warmachine, which brings that game forward into the 'to play' options. I should be able to print about a half dozen buildings over the next couple weeks - plenty for a quick skirmish game. I still need to figure out magnetizing everything, but that should be quick.
And aside from scenery, I've been very happy with the 'other stuff' I've printed. I made the gears for my brother, and a friend had asked if I could make a case for his raspberry pi and display. He had mismatched versions, so the off-the shelf cases wouldn't work. But he found the files for a case online, and I could print them out for about $3 worth of materials. And it worked just like it was supposed to - get the files printing, and hours later he had a ready-to-use case. So even though I don't have many non-scenery uses in mind, it's really awesome to see how well they come together.
Sadly, gaming has been a major void for me lately. If I was printing scenery, I wouldn't be doing anything gaming related. A big part of it is the holidays and winter - it seems that people just don't get together as much this time of year. It's also not helped by friend and family dynamics - some friends have had personal issues, and those of us with kids have that consideration to try and work around. This past FND, a bunch of us were talking about getting back to the gaming roots of FND. Granted, we always seem to talk about it but never do it, but that goes back to the previous factors. It's just not easy to get a bunch of people together to dedicate some time to games. D40Con was awesome in that it felt like a weekend of what FND used to be, but I think part of what made it successful was that we had a weekend to do it - when you only have an evening it just doesn't seem to work.
Range time has also been another big void. I haven't been shooting since the week of Thanksgiving - far from the once a month that I was hoping to do. Again, I know part of this was the whole holidays thing, but now that it's March, I can't use that excuse. The San Diego trip was another 'this will mess up scheduling so wait until afterwards', but again - that's done. So I really need to get my mind to it and get back out.
Although I'm kinda coming to terms with the fact that my gun hobby just isn't going to be what I'd like for the foreseeable future. I think that if I can get Pidge into it, that may help, but that's a 10 year plan. So in that vein, I've passed on Blindfury's lovely bolt action, and shelved the idea of finishing the AR anytime soon. If I do anything gun hobby related, it needs to be getting back to the range.
So, work has been absolute crap lately. I don't know if it's something with the industry as a whole, but it seems that lately, every project has had more work and less time to do it. This has brought double the suck - first you have the stress of trying to do more with less time, but then you get hit with the second batch of suck, when that quick time frame leads to increased mistakes which then leads to more work. It becomes a snowball - mistakes make more work, which makes for more rushing, which makes for more mistakes. This has been made even worse though, with a couple mistakes of mine that look like they'll cost us. Understandable mistakes, so I'm not getting blamed per se, but avoidable mistakes that no one likes to see. And they certainly add to the stress lately, the sort of stress that leaves you heading home at night with a giant "fuck you" attitude.
We're rapidly coming up on another Gotcha Day, soon followed by Pidge's fifth birthday. Almost hard to believe that he'll have been home for three years - it seems like it just wasn't that long ago that he was coming home and turning two. Then again, I also look at pictures from back then, and he's not even the same kid. Obviously, children change a lot as they grow, but knowing that still doesn't fully prepare you for the reality of it. I've just loved watching him, as he continues to grow as such a fun-loving, good-hearted little dude. It certainly doesn't hurt that he has my sense of humor and love of Star Wars, but even that aside, I see a little guy that is polite, generally well mannered, and generally happy. And really, it's that last part that makes me smile the most - seeing him happy.
So yeah, stuff. Nothing really groundbreaking or earth shattering, but stuff nonetheless.