So true .. Hobbies should be FUN .. good video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHAqhP8EeYQ

• Game and have fun!
• Model and paint to have fun!
• Retain the JOY!
• The doing counts ..
• Experience it for the fun of it - fearless and relaxing.
• Laugh and smile, enjoy .. and say I did this!
• Hobbies can be frivolous.
• The best hobbies are frivolous fun!

I LIKE that message ;) 

My Cunning Plan for 2020

In the spirit of Spike Milligan's patent way of paying off his debtors (he put their names in a hat and at the end of the month picked one [of the many] out and paid them, but if they have annoyed him during the month [for example by being asked to be paid promptly] he simply omitted to put them in the hat), I have decided to have a "free format small project pool" and "lucky dip" into it (or should I just say "when") I get to an 'artistic impasse' - of wanting to do something but don't know exactly what. The idea being that there can be anything on "the card" - a small painting project, a book to read (or maybe just a chapter), a board game/ziplock to play .. the idea being "just go do it" and there will be a 'good result' at the end of my exultation (kind of like those endorphins at the end of a sweaty exercise session). The "cards" will therefore have to be of limited duration and achievable ideally in either in a weekend spare-time session or series of week day nights 'hobby time' maximum - ideally in a four hour burst.

Suggestions for my first "small project pot" are (and note they are not in any particular order as they are random numbers to be drawn from the pot as required):

1. .. Writing: Compose a Short Article for the Nugget
2. .. Make a Model: Cruel Seas 1/300 E-Boat
3. .. Play a Game: Rummicub (at least one other player required)
4. .. Figure Painting: LOTR Moria Cave Troll with Spear
5. .. Escape from the Dark Castle (can be played solo)
6. .. Figure Painting: D&D Boxed Game Bugbear
7. .. Make a Model: 1/144 WWI SE5a ex Skytrex Red Eagle Miniature
8. .. Painting a Figure: D&D Adventurer - Woodland Ranger
9. .. Make a Model: 1/72 Japanese Chi-Ha Tank - Airfix
10. .. Play a Game: B-17 Queen of the Skies - Avalon Hill (Solo)

It is now standing in the background waiting for "its time to come".
Let's see how it goes in 2020!

The thing about books ... is I love them but ... they are killing me!

The thing about books is that I don't get round to reading them ... and they end up taking up too much space in a busy household. Despite the quality, despite the interest ... the shame of it is that I don't enough time to read them and they become a millstone around my neck. I have cracked the Audio "listen to while you travel" conundrum but I have to rationalise what I already have and place emphasis on quality. Aka I have more books than I can possibly still read in the remaining years of my life, so make sure you read the good ones.

Note: That was probably true twenty years ago, but I felt that time was on my side!

So project by project a 'culling' process has begun. It started with the Russo-Japanese war .. beautiful books I have had for in excess of fifteen years and they had to go. They were purchased before I had a family and were never read in the (double digit) time since I have gained one. As per the earlier post I exchanged then for US modern 1/3000 lead, a project I intend to do this year (asap) so I am happy they did not live in vain - they have also gone to a "good house".

My current rational is that I get intense enjoyment out of the painting and modelling aspect so that is where I an going to concentrate my efforts alongside actual game playing (board and tabletop). As in the case of the Russo-Japanese period I am keeping my 1/3000 Navwar kit and the Avalanche Press Russo-Japanese 1904-05 board game to generate historical scenarios. My hope is that the fellow wargamer of the exchange will be inspired to game a few naval actions with me.

The books I "will keep" fall into one of two categories. Those that I have read and mean something to me such as Green's "The Greco Persian-Wars" will be kept "as they are precious to me" (and there are quite a few of those .. so books won't disappear from my house) and those books that are effectively a painting reference or simple order of battle guide. The various Osprey's fall into that genre however .. not all Osprey's will probably be kept just the mainstream wargaming eras. Historical novels may/will have to go en-masse to the various worthy charity shops of this fair land!

Your thoughts are appreciated on the above. I know many other "a gamer" must have faced this dilemma. Is the above "a whim of madness" .. I am prising the "toys" above the "books" as I think all I really need is a good overview but not an exhaustive PhD depth of understanding of each period I play.