Reply To: [unofficial weekender] man down…. call in reinforcements!

[crazyredcoatParticipant 13642xp 1]

@sundancer Sorry it’s been a bit rough, mate, but you’re work and effort with these weekly threads are very much appreciated by me. The Event hasn’t been fun and uni was rougher than usual this year, but having this place to be silly has really helped. Slumps happen, unfortunately. Quite often I feel very frustrated with the hobby and things going on, but taking a bit of time away always gives me that little extra drive to get stuck in a covered with paint again. And thanks to @blinky465 for lending a hand this week!

@warzan There was an out-building that you had to excavate from the undergrowth? I knew Ireland is a magical place but I didn’t know the plants can claim buildings! 😛 It’s looking great!

@scribbs Loving those shields, mate! The designs are amazing!

@danlee Are those dogs supporting a local footy team? 😛 They look great! I’m excited to see what you come up with next!

As for a pledge, I have my model of Vargo Hoat to work on. I’m in a bit of a hobby slump myself the passed few days, so I don’t know how quickly I’ll get him finished, but I plan on playing into his turncloak nature from the books and putting that into the mini…literally… 😛 We’ll see how far I get.

But now for questions!

Cars. A necessary evil? Have you ever given serious consideration to getting rid of your car (or simply not getting one if you’ve never had a car) and joining something like a car club?

Honestly, my car is so expensive to keep just because of insurance costs…but I live in rural Canada and in North America they haven’t really learned to connect places together so you have to drive. I enjoy driving, but particularly this passed year I have done very little but the costs haven’t changed minus paying for quite as much fuel. I’d prefer to take trains everywhere, but they are so expensive here and so impractical in where they go that it’s just not possible. On the subject of trains, if anyone is ever in Norway they are some incredible scenery on their train lines! Bergen to Oslo was really quite something!

How many of us are currently on “hobby hiatus” – either knowingly or unwittingly? Has it been more than a week since you’ve put paint on a mini or pushed your little plastic men around a table? (I know some people consider watching Youtube videos part of “hobby research” but let’s be honest, most of us do this in place of gawping at the telly of an evening, to just pass the time – so we’re not going to let that count!)

I am still painting relatively consistently, but I’m running low on paint supplies and getting more isn’t practical at the moment. Having to suddenly try and find somewhere to live isn’t helping, but I think the ongoing mess the world is in right now is kind of getting to me and so much of what I paint I kind of think ‘meh, it’s a mini, who cares?’ I try and keep positive, though, because I think we all need a bit more of that these days.

Back pain – it seems to be something we all become familiar with once we reach a certain age. Have you got to the point where you have to brace yourself before sneezing while putting your socks on? Every hard chair in our kitchen has a lumbar support strapped to it (so I can sit in any at a whim, I’m that kind of crazy) and have lived with a prolapsed disc for about 10 years now. Any coping strategies for back pain?

I’m only 30…but also almost 2 m tall…back pain is a reality of my life. 😛 I have a huge problem with places that save money by converting EVERYTHING to wheelchair accessible because if I want to use a wheelchair accessible desk (which for obvious reasons have no seats) I have to bend half over. I have no coping strategies, really, I just keep doing things and over time it takes me a little longer to get out of a chair, or I make more creaking noises when I stretch. 😛

And now, music! Hopefully  Youtube’s region nonsense doesn’t cause problems again…