Yesterday I returned home after a couple weeks away with the National Guard. I can't say that it was a great time, but I survived and I got paid for it, so it's not all bad. About a week ago my wife called and let me know that the boy had busted into the hobby room and climbed onto my desk. I am somewhat proud to report that my first concern was for his health, as there are plenty of hobby knives, glues, and paints all over the desk. Only after being assured of his safety did I ask about the models. She wasn't sure what was supposed to be there or how it was supposed to look, so there was no way to know. Yesterday I looked it over and found nothing missing. The worst of it was some epoxy spread out over an unused portion of the table and some models and parts moved around or knocked off of the table. I cleaned up the epoxy, collected the various parts up from around the desk, and put my Dwarves back in formation, so everything is right again.
My task for this evening is to put together the Knights for my Empire army. I had to drop off the wife and boy at the airport as my wife's uncle died last week and they are flying back east to attend the funeral. The house is rather quiet with just me and the dogs in attendance. I am looking forward to spending some time with my family now that school is out for the summer and I've got a couple of months left before I depart to the Middle East. Speaking of school, I took four classes this semester and came away with 3 As and an A-. That's not too bad, although admittedly I took a rather soft schedule this time around as I knew there would be a lot going on in real life.
I had a bit of a scare regarding the Kill Team mission from the Battle Missions book for 40k. While I was away for training I read on a blog somewhere that Troops choices were still compulsory for the mission, which would mean no Terminator Kill Teams and would probably have messed with some of my Ork ideas. I look in the book today and confirmed that the Troop choices for Kill Team are 0-2 rather than 1-2. My Terminators can breathe a sigh of relief.
I've always struggled a little with using new things, especially things that could be considered collectible. I used to keep action figures in their packages, there were some comics in my collection that I wouldn't read because they might suffer damage, pens that were too nice to actually use, things like that. A few years ago I forced myself to make a bit of a mental shift from that mindset. I opened up all of my remaining action figures and played with them. I actually read my comics and sometimes didn't box them away for several months. Part of that process involved cutting way back on how many titles I ordered every month and ignoring the new comic listings so I could avoid jumping onto any big events or collectible issues. Now I just get a few titles once a month and set them by my bed to read one or two at a time when I've got a few minutes. I mention all of this because I went through a little relapse of collector-itis with the shoes my uncle gave to me recently. I (un-)reasoned that if I put my feet in them, the little Bo Jackson photos inside would wear off. Over a short period of time the stark white of the soles would dull, and the new shoe smell would give way to old foot smell. It was raining when I left the house this morning, and for a moment I considered wearing my old shoes to go outside. Then I realized that I was being silly, and that I got new shoes because the old ones were worn out. These shoes were meant to be worn and enjoyed. I recall a story told about my grandfather, who grew up with Depression-era values. For Christmas one year he received an orange, and it was such a treat that he decided to save it to be enjoyed later. After a period of time the orange rotted and was no longer suitable for eating. By not using it for its intended purpose, he had missed out on the joy of eating it. So today I wore my new shoes out into the rain and enjoyed using them for their intended purpose. I did make sure to avoid puddles and walk around muddy spots, though.
My task for this evening is to put together the Knights for my Empire army. I had to drop off the wife and boy at the airport as my wife's uncle died last week and they are flying back east to attend the funeral. The house is rather quiet with just me and the dogs in attendance. I am looking forward to spending some time with my family now that school is out for the summer and I've got a couple of months left before I depart to the Middle East. Speaking of school, I took four classes this semester and came away with 3 As and an A-. That's not too bad, although admittedly I took a rather soft schedule this time around as I knew there would be a lot going on in real life.
I had a bit of a scare regarding the Kill Team mission from the Battle Missions book for 40k. While I was away for training I read on a blog somewhere that Troops choices were still compulsory for the mission, which would mean no Terminator Kill Teams and would probably have messed with some of my Ork ideas. I look in the book today and confirmed that the Troop choices for Kill Team are 0-2 rather than 1-2. My Terminators can breathe a sigh of relief.
I've always struggled a little with using new things, especially things that could be considered collectible. I used to keep action figures in their packages, there were some comics in my collection that I wouldn't read because they might suffer damage, pens that were too nice to actually use, things like that. A few years ago I forced myself to make a bit of a mental shift from that mindset. I opened up all of my remaining action figures and played with them. I actually read my comics and sometimes didn't box them away for several months. Part of that process involved cutting way back on how many titles I ordered every month and ignoring the new comic listings so I could avoid jumping onto any big events or collectible issues. Now I just get a few titles once a month and set them by my bed to read one or two at a time when I've got a few minutes. I mention all of this because I went through a little relapse of collector-itis with the shoes my uncle gave to me recently. I (un-)reasoned that if I put my feet in them, the little Bo Jackson photos inside would wear off. Over a short period of time the stark white of the soles would dull, and the new shoe smell would give way to old foot smell. It was raining when I left the house this morning, and for a moment I considered wearing my old shoes to go outside. Then I realized that I was being silly, and that I got new shoes because the old ones were worn out. These shoes were meant to be worn and enjoyed. I recall a story told about my grandfather, who grew up with Depression-era values. For Christmas one year he received an orange, and it was such a treat that he decided to save it to be enjoyed later. After a period of time the orange rotted and was no longer suitable for eating. By not using it for its intended purpose, he had missed out on the joy of eating it. So today I wore my new shoes out into the rain and enjoyed using them for their intended purpose. I did make sure to avoid puddles and walk around muddy spots, though.
What's up with the A-...? I had to say that since my Dad isn't here to say it.
ReplyDeleteBeen there with the wearer's remorse. But have also learned that the sooner you wear them out, the sooner you'll be needing a new pair. And, believe me, there will always be a new pair waiting for you.
ReplyDeleteThe A- came from me being lazy and not reading the entire section before taking a quiz. Entirely preventable, but I didn't want to put in the work.
ReplyDelete